Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Handbook

— Biographies and Sources —

 

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi Sante da, 1525-94

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (the latter name from his native city) was born 1525 or 1526 and died in 1594. He ranks as the foremost composer of the Catholic Church. He began as organist and musical director in his native town, but was soon called to Rome, where he was appointed composer to the Pontifical Chapel and Maestro of St. Peter’s. He filled many other engagements as composer, concert-master, conductor, and director in study. Palestrina’s works mark the culmination of the era of strict, simple contrapuntal composition, and brought this form of composition into its proper place as a means of expression and not as an end in itself. His complete works have been published in 33 volumes, containing 99 masses, 139 motets, and other compositions almost without number. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

PALESTRINA, Giovanni Pierluigi Sante da (1525-1594), born at Palestrina, Italy, received his early musical training at Rome, where he came under the influence of Orlando di Lasso, the great master from the Netherlands. At nineteen Palestrina became organist and chapelmaster in his home town, and after serving there a number of years, he was appointed master of the boys in the Julian Chapel in Rome. In 1555 he became a pontifical singer in the Sistine Chapel, but, after about six months, was dismissed because of a papal ruling that only unmarried priests be allowed to attend. He then became chapelmaster, first of St. John Lateran, and then of the Liberian Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, spending his last twenty years in practical retirement at St. Peter’s. Palestrina is ranked as the foremost composer of the Roman Catholic Church. His greatest contribution to general hymnody was his stand against the introduction of popular airs and lyrics into the church services of the 16th century. Palestrina was able to present simple, polyphonic compositions that were noble and devotional in character. Among his works are 93 masses, 139 motets, and many hymns, prayers, and responses. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

357

 

Palmer, Ray, 1808-87

Ray Palmer (1808-87), who rendered the translation for No. 382, served as a congregational preacher in Albany, New York. He was also for a time secretary for The American Congregational Union. Palmer ranks as the foremost American hymn writer. “My faith looks up to Thee” is his most famous hymn (L. H. 456). [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

PALMER, Ray (1808-1887), was a direct descendant of John Alden and his wife Priscilla, and of William Palmer, who came to Plymouth in 1621. The son of Judge Thomas Palmer, he was born at Little Compton, Rhode Island, November 12, 1808. Poverty forced him to leave home at thirteen after completing grammar school. While clerk in a Boston dry-goods store for two years, he passed through deep spiritual experiences, with the result that he joined the Park Street Congregational Church, whose pastor was Sereno Edwards Dwight. Palmer’s attention was now directed to the ministry. After three years at Phillips Academy, Andover, he studied at Yale College, graduating in 1830. Palmer continued his theological studies under pastoral supervision for a year at New York. Here he wrote the hymn “My faith looks up to Thee.” Then he continued his studies for three years at New Haven, where he was associated with Ethan A. Andrews in conducting a Young Ladies Institute. He was ordained pastor of the Central Congregational Church, Bath, Maine in 1835. Here he remained fifteen years except for a trip to Europe for his health in 1847. During these years he wrote some of his best hymns. In 1850 he was appointed to the First Congregational Church at Albany, New York. Here he also labored for fifteen years but had to resign because of failing health in 1865. He moved to New York and was appointed Corresponding Secretary to the American Congregational Union, resigning this post in 1878 and moving to Newark, New Jersey, where he was in active ministerial service for the Belleville Avenue Congregational Church, having especial charge of visiting the people of the congregation. On the day before he died, Palmer feebly repeated the last stanza of his favorite hymn: [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

“When death these mortal eyes shall seal, [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

And still this throbbing heart, [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

The rending veil shall Thee reveal [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

All glorious as Thou art.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Ray Palmer is said to have written more hymns than any other American. His Poetical Works, published in 1876, fill a volume of more than 350 pages. He died March 29, 1887. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

184

tr. 11, 318

 

Parry, Joseph, 1841-1903

Joseph Parry was born May 21, 1841, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Parry’s family moved to Danville, Pennsylvania, when he was 13 years old, though he often returned to Wales. He attended the Royal Academy of Music, 1868-1871. He was Professor of Music at the University of Wales, 1873-1877, and received his doctorate of music from Cambridge in 1878. He also taught at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, 1888-1903. His works include operas, oratorios, cantatas, piano pieces, and hymn tunes. He died February 17, 1903, Penarth, Wales. [The Cyber Hymnal]

209, 296

 

Paulsen, Paul Christian, 1881-1948

PAULSEN, Paul Christian (1881-1948), son of Andreas Paulsen and Anne, née Holbeck, was born March 26, 1881, at Alstrup, Jutland, Denmark, and came to America in 1904. He was educated at Valley City (North Dakota) Normal School; Dana College and Trinity Seminary, Blair, Nebraska; and Chicago Lutheran Seminary, Maywood. After his ordination in 1911 he served the following parishes: Nelson-Osakis-Elmdale, Minnesota, Hartland-Oregon, Wisconsin; Chicago (south side); Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and Ferndale, California, from 1941 to 1946, when he retired to Selma, California. He died there July 26, 1948. He was secretary for nine years and president for three years of the Illinois District of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church. He contributed short stories to synodical papers and periodicals, both Danish and English, and was recognized as an outstanding translator of Danish hymns and songs. He was chairman of the joint committee created in 1925 by the two Danish synods to prepare an English hymnbook, the Hymnal for Church and Home, published in 1927, to which Paulsen contributed 63 translations from the Danish and ten original compositions. The committee also issued a Junior Hymnal. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 83

 

Pedersen, B., 1608

THIS hymn was originally printed together with another spiritual song, about the year 1608, under the following title: “Tvende aandelige andægtige Sange, Odense Byes, mine gunstige gode geistlige og verdslige Øvrigheder med deres Menigheder til et ydmygt Taknemmeligheds Tegn, udi denne Forms Bekostning dediceret af B. Pedersen, K. ibidem” (Kannik sammesteds). The author served as canon or minister in Odense or in some city in the district of Fyen. According to a resolution of the church, the fourth stanza of this hymn was to be sung after Baptism, and the fifth stanza before Communion. It has been extensively used in the parochial schools of the church and as a closing hymn on confirmation day. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

510

 

Perronet, Edward, 1726-92

Edward Perronet was the son of Rev. Vincent Perronet, whose father, David Perronet, a Frenchman, settled in England about the year 1680. Vincent, educated at Oxford, became vicar of Shoreham, Kent, 1726. He was a zealous evangelical preacher and labored with the Wesley brothers and George Whitefield. Edward Perronet was born August 2, 1721 (according to some, 1726). From his 23rd year he served with his brother Charles in the Methodist movement. In 1756 Edward Perronet wrote a satirical poem in which he bitterly attacked the State Church and its leading men. John Wesley and others were highly incensed over this poem and demanded that it should be suppressed. This was also done. Later on Edward Perronet became pastor for a congregation of dissenters in Canterbury, where he died January 2, 1792. He is mentioned as a zealous, fiery, and energetic preacher, who faithfully proclaimed the Gospel “in season and out of season.” His poems were published anonymously in three small volumes: I. Select Passages of the Old and New Testament Versified; 2. A Small Collection of Hymns, etc.; 3. Occasional Verses, Moral and Sacred, London, 1785. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

PERRONET, Edward (1726-1792), of French descent, was born at Sundridge, Kent, the son of Vincent Perronet, whose father, Pasteur Perronet, had been pastor in Switzerland. Edward was baptized and brought up in the Church of England, and originally he had no other thought than to be one of her clergy. However already at an early age, for reasons of conscience, he joined the Wesleys and became an itinerant preacher for them. Though strongly evangelical, he had a quick eye for defects which is a characteristic of his The Mitre, a bitter satire on the Church of England, published in 1757, which reflects contemporary ecclesiastical opinion and sentiment. It aroused John Wesley’s anger, and he demanded its immediate suppression. As a result, he left the Wesleys and joined Lady Huntingdon’s Connection in 1771. This he soon abandoned and became a minister of a small independent chapel at Canterbury, serving this church until his death in 1792. Later he and the Wesleys were reconciled. He died January 2, 1792, his last words being: [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Glory to God in the height of his divinity, [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Glory to God in the depth of his humanity, [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Glory to God in his all sufficiency [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Into his hand I commend my spirit. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

49

 

Peter, Philip A., 1832-1917

PETER, Philip Adam (1832-1917), was born in Hesse-Nassau, January 2, 1832. He was educated under the Rev. E. S. Henkel in Corydon, Indiana, and ordained to the Lutheran ministry in 1858. He served as pastor of the Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States and was active as author. He published The Reformation of the 16th Century, 1889; St. Paul, 1901; and translated hymns. He died in 1917. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

 

tr. 538

 

Peterson, Victor Olof, 1864-1929

PETERSEN, Victor Olof (18641929), was born in Skede, Smaland, Sweden, September 24, 1864, and came to America in 1867. He studied at Augustana College and Academy, Rock Island, Illinois, graduating in 1889. After a summer at the state museum at Springfield, Illinois, under his former professor, Dr. Joshua Lindahl, he taught physics and chemistry at Augustana College. After he took a chemistry course at Harvard, Augustana called him as regular professor. In 1906 he became secretary of the Rock Island Tropical Plantation Co. and from 1907 to 1913 managed the Chalchijapa Plantation in southern Mexico. Then he was engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Rock Island until in 1920 he was called as professor of chemistry at Huron College, Huron, South Dakota, where he remained until his death. He was a lover of hymns and translated a number of them from the Swedish Psalmbook. Three are in the present Augustana Hymnal. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 104

 

Petri, Olav 1493-1552

tr. 342

 

Petursson, Hallgrim, 1614-74

NEARLY two hundred and fifty years ago [written in 1913], in a lonely Icelandic farm-house a leper lay dying. Outside the doors of the cottage Nature was lavish in her gifts of beauty. To the west the waters of the Whalefirth widened towards the Greenland Sea and the sunset. To the east they narrowed into a girdle of hill and fell, forming a land-locked bay, scene of exploits told in one of the Sagas of long ago. But within the cottage all was bare and comfortless. The membrane of the primitive window rattled in the autumn wind, while on the wooden locker-bed, built into the wall of the house, amidst the heart-breaking squalor of his disease, the leper lay dying. But look! his lips are moving, and, as we listen, we hear him pour forth in his beautiful language a hymn bright with the deathless hope of Christ’s Gospel, glad with the assurance of a speedy release from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. It was the man’s swan-song. Not long afterwards, by the quiet hand of death, he gained his heart’s desire.

Such must have been, as in imagination we reconstruct the scene from the knowledge at our disposal, the passing of Hallgrim Petursson, the sacred singer of Iceland. It was a notable example of the victory of the spirit over the flesh, of the triumph of the Christian in his hour of deepest physical need. Small wonder that this was the man who out of his poverty left to his countrymen one of the most precious legacies which they have ever received—those Passion Hymns, which Iceland hearts will cherish, as a poet of their own has said, “as long as the sun shines upon the cold Jokull.”

Hallgrim Petursson was born in the year 1614. His youth was cast in one of the stirring periods of Icelandic history. The breath of the Reformation was breathing upon the dead bones and waking them to life. Odd Gottskalksson had published his Icelandic New Testament in 1540, six years before the death of Luther—a version of which Gudbrand Vigfusson could write: “It is well worthy to stand by the side of that of Tyndal or Luther, and higher praise could hardly be given to it.” Bishop Gudbrand of Holar had brought out his complete edition of the Icelandic Bible in 1584, and was issuing hymns and other religious literature from his press. It was in this bracing atmosphere that Hallgrim spent his early years, his father being sexton of the Cathedral at Holar. Here doubtless were sown in the boy’s heart those seeds which later were to bear such abundant fruit. But the harvest was not yet. Possibly owing to some youthful indiscretion, the young Hallgrim was sent from the school at Holar to Copenhagen. Here, in the great city, the boy’s talents were in imminent danger of being lost. But divine providence was watching over him. Brynjolf Sveinsson, later to become one of the most famous of Icelandic Bishops, found him in a black smith’s shop, and with quick eye discerning the gold beneath the grime, put him again to school. His education in Copenhagen was continued until an event occurred which was to cast its influence over his whole life. It was in the year 1627, the year of Bishop Gudbrand’s death, that four ships from North Africa, three of them being corsairs from Algiers, fell upon the defenceless coast of Iceland. The main attack was delivered upon the Island of Heimaey, the chief of the Westman group. The wanton and inhuman atrocities committed by the pirates so burnt themselves into the memory of the unfortunate inhabitants, that Mr. Nelson Annandale relates that during his six weeks’ stay at Heimaey in the year 1898 he heard almost daily of the raid. Between three and four hundred persons were taken captives chiefly by the Algerians, and sold as slaves in the market at Algiers. Many suffered great cruelty, largely in the form of persecution for their faith. They were “chained in insupportable positions, beaten on the hands and faces, exposed naked in public places, and again beaten until they lost the power of speech.” At length, however, an Icelander was allowed to carry a petition to the King of Denmark, asking for I,200 rix-dollars as a ransom price for the surviving captives. A subscription was raised in Iceland, to which the King of Denmark himself largely contributed. This was paid over in due course, and in 1637, ten years after the raid, thirty-four survivors out of the hundreds taken were set at liberty.

Some of these people broke their homeward journey at Copenhagen, and here it is that Hallgrim Petursson again comes into the story. During their enforced sojourn in North Africa, these survivors seem to have become more or less infected with Mohammedanism, or at least to have let a part of their Christian faith slip away into the limbo of forgetfulness. It was necessary to remedy this state of things, and to do so an Icelander, learned in Christian truth, but resident at Copenhagen, was needed. Hallgrim Petursson, now a distinguished theological student, fulfilled these conditions, and was forthwith appointed by the authorities to be the religious instructor of his rescued compatriots. Among the captives was a lady, Gudrid by name, who by her beauty had already attracted the attention of the son of the Dey of Algiers. The young prince had even wished to marry her. This, of course, could not be tolerated, and the source of temptation was sent out of the country among the other ransomed slaves. Gudrid thus became a member of the group which was confided to the pastoral care of Hallgrim Petursson. It was perhaps not unnatural that he in his turn should become a captive to those charms which had already proved too potent for the Algerian Prince. Such was the infatuation of the unfortunate man, that although Gudrid had been a married woman in Iceland before the raid, and although, for all that was known to the contrary, her husband was still living there, Hallgrim determined to leave Copenhagen and to sail back to Iceland with Gudrid. Upon their arrival in that country they remained together, and at length, hearing of the husband’s death, were married. This conduct was the great blot upon Hallgrim’s life. He did not go unpunished. The sweet fruit became bitter in his mouth. The Mohammedan leanings of his wife were through long years a pain and grief to his sensitive nature. Nor did his conscience keep silence.

“Lord, I have sown the seed of sin;

Hideous have my transgressions been.”

So he sings in one of his Passion-Hymns, and it has been thought that the words bear a special reference to this episode of his career. This sin may have been in a sense the beata culpa, which, with its attendant remorse, drove him to the Cross for that gift of pardon and renewal, of which he was afterwards to sing so peerlessly to his countrymen.

Hallgrim Petursson was ordained in 1644 and was in 1650 appointed to the parish of Saurby on the Whalefirth in the south-west of Iceland. Here he gave himself largely to the exercise of his poetic gift, writing much religious verse; and it was here that, inspired by the example of Paul Gerhardt in Germany and of Kingo in Denmark, he achieved his greatest work in the composition of the immortal Passion-Hymns. They appeared in the year 1659, a first copy of the manuscript being sent to the daughter of that Bishop Brynjolf Sveinsson who had formerly befriended him in Copenhagen. But the singer of Christ’s Passion was soon himself to pass through a very furnace of affliction. He contracted the dread disease of leprosy. This he bore with exemplary fortitude, and passed away after a lingering illness in the glory of an unclouded hope. He died at Ferstikla near the parsonage of Saurby in the year 1674.

The Passion-Hymns are fifty in number. They tell the story of Christ’s sufferings from the moment when the Master sang the Pascal Hymn with His disciples in the Upper Room until the military watch was set and the seal made fast upon His tomb. Each hymn consists, as a rule, of from fifteen to twenty stanzas. The poet begins by paraphrasing the biblical narrative of that incident in the Passion Story with which he is about to deal. He thus accomplishes what is achieved in Oratorio by the recitative. He then passes on to meditation, exhortation, prayer or praise. The hymns were written to be sung, generally speaking, to German chorales of the sixteenth century. With these tunes of stately dignity they naturally blend. To sing them to lighter modern airs would jar on the ear as a kind of sacrilege. In fact, to fully appreciate the hymns, it is necessary to hear them sung to these slow and majestic melodies from the times of Luther, which give free play and scope to the beauty of the Icelandic vowel sounds. In former days it was the custom in the scattered farm-houses of Iceland to sing the Passion-Hymns through during Lent. This custom is still to some extent observed, as, for instance, in the chief Icelandic Church in Winnipeg. Nor can a better preparation for Good Friday, the “Long Fast Day,” as it is called by the Icelanders, be well imagined. The practice however is not as universal as it was, partly owing to the indifference which pervades so much of the modern world, and partly through the prevalence of views in recent years, which, as an Icelandic clergyman has pointed out, “must make the Passion-Hymns of Hallgrim Petursson die upon the lips.” It is however still true to say that this singer of the Cross is the outstanding poet of his people. His hymns have been called “The flower of all Icelandic poetry.” He is still sung and quoted with reverence and with affection. He holds his position, we might almost say, as the Shakespeare or the Milton of his native land.

If we seek the reasons for the spell which the Passion-Hymns have cast over the heart of Iceland for nearly two centuries and a half, we shall not have to look far for an answer. It is true that the range of thought is not wide, that the style is sometimes almost irritatingly didactic, and that the charm of colouring from nature through metaphor or simile is conspicuous only by its absence. The Passion-Hymns possess, however, one mighty secret. In exquisite Icelandic the poet dwells upon the benefits procured for sinful man by Christ’s Passion. He isolates (and surely e may forgive him for doing so) each particular suffering which the Redeemer underwent, and shows the gain wrought for man thereby. Was Christ left alone in His hour of need? It was that we might never be forsaken. Was Christ clothed in a robe of mockery? It was that we might be arrayed in a robe of glory. Was Christ hounded to death with the cry of “Crucify Him?” It was that heaven and earth might over us call “peace.” Were Christ’s feet pierced? It was that the sins of our wayward feet might be forgiven. Was Christ’s side, as Adam’s, opened? It was that His Bride, the Church, in that healing stream of Water and of Blood, might be born. The Passion of Christ is the adoring poet’s theme. Now in homely teaching, now in pathetic prayer, now in rapturous praise, he “placards “ Christ Crucified before his countrymen. He raised, as it were, a mighty crucifix of song over Iceland, and thither, for nearly two centuries and a half, the weary and the heavy laden have turned their eyes. He sang the theme of the ages, and his song has become immortal. Matthias Jochumsson, the leading poet of modern Iceland, has written a beautiful ode to commemorate the bicentenary of Hallgrim Petursson’s death. He therein speaks of him as “the David of this land of Jokulls.” He calls him a light “who lightened two centuries.” He tells us that from the time when the child first says his prayers at his mother’s knee, until the day when as an old man he turns him to his last sleep, it is Hallgrim’s hymns which have power to soothe and to heal. And when Matthias Jochumsson is describing in another poem the passing of Gudbrand Vigfusson, the great Icelander of Oxford, he pictures him Iying with the Havamal* at his head, Heimskringla at his breast, but the Passion Hymns at his heart. That is their secret. The Passion-Hymns have spoken to the heart of Iceland.

(*Readers of Longfellow’s “Saga of King Olaf,” in the “Tales from a Wayside Inn,” will need no explanation of these terms.) [The Passion Hymns of Iceland, by C. Venn Pilcher]

The Lord into His Father’s hands

288, 339, 373

 

Pfefferkorn, Georg Michael, 1645-1732

PFEFFERKORN, Georg Michael (16445-1732), was born March 16, 1645, at Ifta, near Creuzburg on the Werra, where his father had become a pastor in 1619. After studying at the Universities of Jena and Leipzig, Pfefferkorn was for a short time private tutor at Altenburg, and then in 1688 became master of the two highest forms in the Gymnasium at Altenburg. In 1673 he was appointed by Duke Ernst the Pious of Gotha as tutor of his three sons. Three years later Duke Friedrich I appointed him pastor of Friemar, near Gotha, and in 1682 made him a member of the consistory and superintendent at Gräfen-Tonna, also near Gotha. He was an old blind man eighty-six years of age when he died on March 3, 1732. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

446

 

Pfeil, Christoph Carl Ludwig, Baron von, 1712-84

PFEIL, Christoph Carl Ludwig, Baron von (1712-1784), was born January 20, 1712, at Grünstadt near Worms, where his father was then in the service of the Count of Leinigen. After completing his course at the University of Halle and of Tübingen, he was appointed Württemberg secretary of the legation at Regensburg in 1732. He was privileged to hold a number of political offices. Finding himself no longer able to cooperate in carrying out the absolution of the Württemberg prime minister, Count Montmartin, he resigned and then retired to his estate, Deufstetten, near Crailsheim. Later on he was created Baron by the Emperor Joseph II, and in 1765 received the cross of the Red Eagle Order from Frederick the Great. An intermittent fever confined him to his bed from August, 1783, to his death, February 14, 1784, at Deufstetten. Pfeil was a man of deep and genuine piety. His hymn-writing began immediately after the spiritual change which he experienced on the tenth Sunday after Trinity, 1730, and it continued to be his favorite occupation, especially so in his later years at Deufstetten. He was one of the most productive of German hymnwriters, his published hymns numbering about 950. He published Lieder von der offenbarten Herrlichkeit und Zukunft des Herrn, Esslingen, 1741; and Evangelische Glaubens-Herzensgesänge, Dinkelsbühl, 1783. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

190

 

Pierpont, Folliott Sandford, 1835-1917

Folliott Sandford Pierpoint, M. A., was born at Spa Villa, Bath, England, October 7, 1835, and was educated at Queen’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1871. He has published The Chalice of Nature and Other Poems, republished, 1878, as Songs of Love, The Chalice of Nature and Lyra Jesu. He has also contributed hymns to the Churchman’s Companion, The Lyra Eucharistica, etc. (J. Julian). [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

463

 

Pilcher, Charles Venn, 1879-1960

tr. 288, 339, 346, 373

 

Pisne duchovni…Cithara Sanctorum, Levoca, 1636

204

 

Plumptre, Edward H., 1821-91

Edward Hayes Plumptre was born August 6, 1821, London, England. Plumptre was educated at King’s College, London, and University College, Oxford, graduating as a double first in 1844. He was for some time Fellow of Brasenose. On taking Holy Orders in 1846, he rapidly reached a foremost position as theologian and preacher. His appointments included assistant preacher at Lincoln’s Inn; select preacher at Oxford; Professor of Pastoral Theology at King’s College, Oxford; prebendary in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Professor of Exegesis of the New Testament, King’s College, London; Boyle Lecturer; Grinfield Lecturer on the Septuagint, Oxford; and many others. His works include: Lazarus, and other Poems (1864), Master and Scholar (1866), Things New and Old (1884), Translations of Sophocles, Æschylus, and Dante. [The Cyber Hymnal]

196

 

Polack, Herman Adolph, 1862-1930

POLACK, Herman Adolph (1862-1930), son of the Rev. W. G. Polack and Maria Elizabeth, née Hans, was born in Crete Township, Will County, Illinois, June 10, 1862. He was educated at the Missouri State Normal School, Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He married Wilhelmina Henrietta Stohs at Bremen, Kansas, February 12, 1885. He taught public school in East St. Louis, then became Lutheran parochial school-teacher, serving schools in St. Louis; Wausau, Wisconsin; Cleveland, Ohio; and other places. He was an accomplished organist, composer, and choir director. Together with H. Ilse (q. v.) he served on the music committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnbook, 1912. He died at Lakewood, Ohio, April 25, 1930. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

315

 

Polack, William Gustave, 1890-1950

POLACK, William Gustave (1890-1950), son of Herman A. Polack and Wilhelmina, née Stohs, was born at Wausau, Wisconsin, December 7, 1890. He was educated at Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri; ordained to the Lutheran ministry at Evansville, Indiana, by the Rev. C. A. Frank, founder and first editor of the Lutheran Witness. He served as assistant pastor in Trinity Church, Evansville, from 1914 to 1921, succeeding Frank as pastor. He married Iona Mary Gick in Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 9, 1914. In 1925 he was called as professor of theology to Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He was made chairman of the Missouri Synod’s Committee on Hymnology and Liturgics in 1929, and in 1930 he organized the Intersynodical Committee on Hymnology and Liturgics for the Synodical Conference of North America, which was authorized to prepare The Lutheran Hymnal. His poetical publications include Beauty for Ashes and Martin Luther in English Poetry. His prose works include The Story of C. F. W. Walther, The Story of Luther, The Story of David Livingstone, Into all the World, The Building of a Great Church, Hymns from the Harps of God, Rainbow over Calvary, Handbook to The Lutheran Hymnal. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 34, 36, 82, 549

 

Polish, 1500

285

 

Pott, Francis, 1832-1909

Francis Pott (b. 1832, England; educated at Oxford; served as minister in various places). Pott’s rendering is commonly considered the best English version. It was published in 1861 in Hymns fitted to the Order of Common Prayer. The first English translation, “Finished is the battle now,” was rendered by J. M. Neale in 1851. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

POTT, Francis (1832-1909), born December 29, 1832, was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford. He received his B. A. in 1854 and his M. A. in 1857. Pott took holy orders in 1856 and served successively as curate of Bishopsworth, Gloucestershire, 1856-1858; of Ardingly, Berks, 1858-1861; of Ticehurst, Sussex, 1861-1866; and as Rector of Norhill, Ely, for 1866. Pott published Hymns fitted to the Order of Common Prayer, 1861; The Free Rhythm Psalter, 1898. He was a member of the original committee for Hymns Ancient and Modern. He died at Speldhurst, 1909. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 357

 

Praetorius, Michael, 1571-1621

Michael Praetorius was born February 15, 1571, in Kreuzberg, Thüringen. He began his musical career as “kapellmeister” of Lüneburg. In 1604 he was called into the service of the Duke of Brunswick, first as organist, later as “kapellmeister” and secretary. He was appointed prior of the cloister of Ringelheim, but was not required to take up his residence there. Praetorius died in Wolfenbüttel upon his fiftieth birthday, February 15, 1621. He had become famous as composer of church music, among which should be mentioned the mammoth edition of over twelve hundred songs. He is also noted for various writings, among which the great Syntagma musica still furnishes much valuable source-material. He ranks high as a writer and also as a composer of church melodies. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

PRÄTORIUS, Michael (1571-1621). Michael Prätorius, the son of Michael Schultze (Praetorius being a Latinization of the name), was born at Kreuzburg Thuringia, on February 15, 1571. At an early age Prätorius attended the University of Frankfurt a. O., his brother supporting him. When his brother died, Prätorius became organist at Frankfurt and later held the same post at Lüneburg. In this latter town Prätorius began his career as Kapellmeieter. In 1604 he entered the service of the Duke of Brunswick at Wolfenbüttel and was appointed honorary prior of the Ringelheim Monastery near Goslar, but without compulsion to reside there. He died at Wolfenbüttel on February 15, 1621. Prätorius composed much and was a serious student of music. He began to write a complete encyclopedia of the art and practice of music, of which he finished three volumes with the title Syntagma Musicum. The second volume of this work is the most elaborate and valuable of all treatises on instruments and instrumental music in the 16th century. It is considered one of the most remarkable examples of musical scholarship in existance. Among his other titles were Musae Sioniae published in nine parts and Hymnodia Sionae. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

setting: 100, 112, 113, 121, 123

 

Praxis Pietatis Melica, Berlin, 1678

472

 

Prichard, Rowland Hugh, 1811-87

PRICHARD, Rowland Hugh (1811-1887), was born near Bala, spent most of his life at Bala, but in 1880 he moved to Holywell Hill. He composed tunes which appeared in Welsh periodicals. He published Cyfaill y Cantorion (The Singers Friend) in 1844. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

188, 459

 

Proulx, Richard, b. 1937

setting: 428

 

Prudentius, Aurelius Clemens, 348-c. 413

Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, 348413, the most noted of the early Christian poets in the West, was perhaps born in Tarraco in northern Spain, although some have claimed that he was born either in Saragossa or in Calahorra. From the brief and incomplete autobiographical preface attached to the first edition of his complete works, when he was 57 years old, it is evident that he received a good education, that he belonged to a noble family, that he studied law, became a lawyer, entered public life, and held a prominent position (Roman governor) under Emperor Theodosius.— At the age of 57 he retired to a monastery, where he died shortly afterwards.—The above mentioned preface also contains a list of his works.—His Cathemerinon Liber (Daily Round), contains 12 hymns, one for each hour of the day (at cock-crow, morning, before the meal, after the meal, evening, etc.) and a funeral hymn, “Deus ignee fons animarum,” Cathemerinon, No. 10. It consists of 44 verses. From this song has been derived the hymn “Jam moesta quiesce querela” (Despair not, O heart, in thy sorrow), formed from verses 31, 15, 10-12, 32-36 of the original poem. Archbishop Trench calls this song “The crowning glory of the poetry of Prudentius.”—It has been called the song of the catacombs, for it is believed to have been sung during the persecutions of the Christians in the catacombs of Rome, whose darkness was changed into light by the glorious hope of resurrection which this hymn gives. “Hors auf mit Tränen und Klagen,” has been a favorite hymn in Germany and in other countries.—Prudentius’ Liber Peristephanon consists of 14 hymns to the martyrs. They are glowing hymns which have gained world-wide admiration.—The above mentioned works, together with his Psychomachia, were among the most widely read books in the Middle Ages. From an esthetic point of view, Psychomachia is less important than the others, but it exerted a greater influence than any of his other works. In this he describes the conflict of Christianity with heathenism, presented allegorically as a conflict between Christian virtues and heathen vices. His Apotheosis and Hamartigenia are polemic writings. The former is directed against those who deny the divinity of Christ, the latter against the gnostic dualism of Marcion and his followers. Contra Symmachum (two volumes of 638 and 1131 hexameter verses) is of historic interest. The first volume attacks the heathen worship, and the second is directed against a petition by Symmachus to the emperor for the restoration of an altar and a statue of the goddess of victory, which Gratian had removed. His Dittochaeon is more of an archaeological than a literary work.— Prudentius has written about twenty-eight hymns, some of which are very long, and are found in various breviaries. One of them is divided into eight or nine hymns. It is especially in the Spanish ritual that the hymns of Prudentius are characterized by a deep earnestness. Portions of them are noted for their beauty and richness of expression, and for their dramatic power. However, some of them are artificial and stilted. It is to his credit that he followed the principle that new life and a new view of life will and must manifest themselves in new forms; and also the Latin language must take on a new form in order that it might promote the great truths which hitherto had been foreign to it. Bentley calls Prudentius “the Horace and Vergil of the Christians.”—In our day, a renewed interest in Prudentius has been awakened: J. Bergman’s Lexicon Prudentianum, Upsala, 1894; M. Schantz, München, 1904; J. R. Glover, Cambridge, 1901; F. Maigret, Paris, 1903; and many others. —Our English translation is by O. T. Sanden, 1909.

Rudelbach says: “The poetry of Prudentius is like gold set with precious stones.” Luther desired that Prudentius be studied in the schools, and also recommended his funeral hymn. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

PRUDENTIUS, Aurelius Clemens (348 - c. 413) . Of the life of Prudentius nothing is known beyond what he himself has written in a short introduction in verse to his works. He was a Spaniard, evidently of a good family, and was born somewhere in the north of Spain, either at Saragossa, Tarragona, or Callahorra. After receiving a good education befitting his social status, Prudentius applied himself for some years practicing as a pleader in the local court of law, until he received promotion to a judgeship in two cities successively and afterwards to a post of still higher authority, perhaps that of Roman governor. When Prudentius was fifty-seven, he became conscience-smitten on account of the follies and worldliness that had marked his youth and earlier manhood and determined to quit all his secular employments and to devote the remainder of his life to advancing the interests of Christ’s Church by the power of his pen. He retired to a monastery and then began that remarkable succession of sacred poems upon which his fame now rests. Prudentius is considered the most prominent and most prolific author of sacred Latin poetry in its earliest days. His hymns are contained in two of his works, Liber Cathemerinon (containing 14 hymns) and Liber Peristephanon (containing 14 hymns to the martyrs). These two works and his Psychomachia were the most widely read books during the Middle Ages. Prudentius wrote about 28 hymns in all. Bently calls him “The Horace and Vergil of the Christians. “Luther desired that Prudentius be studied in the schools, and Rudelbach was of the opinion that “the poetry of Prudentius is like gold set with precious stones.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

181

 

Psalmodia Sacra, C. F. Witt, 1660-1716, Gotha, 1715

87

 

Psalms of David in Meeter, Edinburgh, 1650

371

 

Pusey, Philip, 1799-1855

Philip Pusey was born June 25, 1799, and was educated in Christ Church College, Oxford. He was an elder brother of the famous Dr. Edw. B. Pusey, author and professor at Oxford University. Philip took his academic degree at Oxford, but in 1853 received also the honorary degree of D. C. L. (doctor of civic law). He died July 9, 1855. Matthæus Apelles von Löwenstern was born April 20, 1594, in Neustadt, Silesia, where his father was a saddlemaker. The son became famous as a talented musician, and in 1625 was given a position with Duke Heinrich Wenzel. Six years later he was appointed royal councillor and chamberlain. Later he entered the service of Ferdinand III and was by him raised to the nobility. Finally he became secretary of state under Duke Karl Friedrich of Münsterberg. He died April 11, 1648, in Breslau. In all he wrote about 30 hymns, several of which have been translated into English and other languages. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

PUSEY, Philip (1790-1855). Pusey’s father was a son of the first Viscount Folestone, who assumed the name of Pusey instead of that of Bouverie. His elder brother was the famous Dr. Edward Bouverie Pusey, the Tractarian leader. Pusey, born on June 25, 1799, at Pusey, England, was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, but left without taking his degree. An Honorary D. C. L. was given him at Commemoration in 1853. After leaving the university Pusey settled on his estate and devoted himself to agriculture and public service. In the former field he was one of the most progressive men of his time; he wrote largely in this field. Pusey was one of the founders of the Royal Agricultural Society. He entered Parliament and sat for Rye, Chippenham, Cashel, and Berkshire. He introduced the term “tenant-right” into the House of Commons. Disraeli said that Pusey was “both by his lineage, his estate, his rare accomplishments and fine abilities, one of the most distinguished country gentlemen who ever sat in the House of Commons.” Pusey had many accomplishments: he was a connoisseur of art, a collector of prints and etchings, a copious contributor to the reviews, and one of the founders of the London Library. He was also interested in hymnology. He wanted to supplant the Sternhold and Hopkins version of the psalms by Milman’s hymns. In this he was opposed by his famous brother. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 439

 

Rambach, Johann Jacob, 1693-1735

Johann Jakob Rambach was born February 24, 1693, in Halle. From his earliest youth he was taught to be obedient and God-fearing. His parents were both deeply influenced by the pietistic movement through Spener. Rambach’s father was a carpenter without sufficient means to permit the son to take up regular studies. But as the boy showed extraordinary talent he was sent to the gymnasium at Glaucha. At fourteen years of age he left this institution and began work in his father’s shop to assist his parents in providing for the family. The following year he sprained his foot so that he could not work for several months. Being advised by his physician not to return to the carpenter’s trade, and encouraged by his parents to take up his studies again, he entered school once more in 1708 and showed such progress that he was permitted to enter the university in 1712. On account of a serious condition of hoarseness, from which he suffered since his birth, he planned at first to study medicine. But he was strongly advised that the church does not only need preachers, but teachers as well. He then entered in earnest upon his theological studies.

During the spring of 1719 he became ill and spent the summer as the guest of Duke Henkel at the latter’s country home. He soon regained his strength. In August he visited Jena, in which city he was called to lecture at the university. He was also frequently called on to preach in the church. Both his lectures and his sermons drew large numbers. In the spring of 1720 he received his master’s degree. In 1723 he returned to Halle, where he was appointed adjunct and inspector of the orphanage, later (1726) professor extraordinary; and at A. H. Francke’s death, 1727, Rambach was made his successor as regular professor.

Rambach was esteemed very highly both as a professor and as a preacher. It has been claimed that the jealousy of his fellow teachers at Halle caused him to leave his position there. In 1731 he received two calls; one from the Duke of Hessen, asking him to become principal theological professor and superintendent at Giessen; the other from Denmark to become German court preacher and theological professor at the University of Copenhagen. Rambach chose Giessen. Here he found conditions quite different from those at Halle. The people had but little sympathy with an earnest and living Christianity, and Rambach’s activity was soon met with scoffing and opposition. It became a matter of continued grief to him that his preaching did not seem to bear any fruit. But he continued to work with untiring zeal. In 1734 he received a call from the newly established University of Göttingen, to become principal professor of theology. He felt inclined to accept this call, but yielded to the intense desire of the duke that he should remain. The following year he was stricken with a violent attack of fever. He realized that his end was drawing near, and it was his constant prayer that he might retain consciousness until the last. He died the 19th of April, 1735. His last words were, “I hold fast to Jesus, and I am prepared to go to Him.” It has been asserted that Rambach died from intense sorrow and grief over his flock.

Rambach wrote over 180 hymns. They were published in Geistliche Poesien, Halle, 1720; Poetische Fest-Gedancken, Jena and Leipzig, 1721; Erbauliches Handbüchlein für Kinder, Giessen, 1734; Geistreiches Haus-Gesangbuch, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1735; Wunder der bis zum Tode des Kreutzes erniedrigten Liebe, Giessen, 1750. Rambach’s Geistliche Lieder, containing 165 hymns, was published in Leipzig, 1844, by Dr. J. L. Pasig. Many of his hymns were taken up by the German hymnals of the 18th century. Many are still in use. There are fifteen of Rambach’s hymns in English translation.

Rambach’s hymns are characterized by depth of thought, combined with clearness of expression. They are thoroughly Scriptural and churchly. Bunsen says that Rambach’s hymns formed a beautiful and very necessary counteraction to the sentimental poetry of his time. And Dr. J. L. Pasig says: “Because his hymns flow out from a heart which is aflame with intense love of Jesus Christ, who alone can give that peace which the world cannot give, therefore they are also permeated by the spirit of the Holy Scriptures, and they speak no other language but the language of the Bible, in which Christ is the central figure and the guiding star.” [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

RAMBACH, Johann Jacob (1693-1735), one of the outstanding leaders among the German Pietists, was born February 24, 1693, in Halle. When he entered Halle University in 1712, he felt that an impediment in his speech would make it more advisable for him to study medicine than theology; but he was strongly advised by his friends and teachers to change his mind. They recognized his great gifts and argued that the Church needed teachers as well as preachers. He then took up his theological studies in earnest. He was thirty years old when he became Professor Johann Daniel Herrnschmidt’s successor at the University of Halle. In 1727 Rambach became the successor of the great August Hermann Francke, founder of the Halle institutions. It has been claimed that the jealousy of fellow-teachers at Halle caused Rambach to leave that university in 1731 to teach at the University of Giessen. He had in that year received two calls: one from Denmark to become German court preacher and theological professor at the University of Copenhagen, the other, from the Duke of Hessen, asking him to serve as principal theological professor and superintendent at Giessen. He accepted the latter position. He found conditions at Giessen much different from those at Halle. His earnest work was not received well. He met with opposition and scoffing. He began to grieve over the fact that his preaching seemed to bear but little fruit. Yet he continued to labor with unremitting zeal at the ultimate expense of his health. He was only forty-two years old when he died from a violent attack of fever, April 19, 1735. His last words were “I hold fast to Jesus, and I am prepared to go to Him.” It has been said that intense sorrow over his unresponsive flock contributed to his untimely death. He wrote over 180 hymns in all, although he is better known as a hymnologist than as a hymn-writer. He published Über Dr. M. Luthers Verdienst um den Kirchengesang, 1813; Anthologie christlicher Gesänge, in six volumes (this is his greatest work). He was principal editor of the Hamburg Gesang-Buch, 1842. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

242, 513

 

Ramsey, Alfred, 1860-1926

The present English translation was rendered by Dr. Alfred Ramsey, 1911. Dr. Ramsey (b. 1860, Pennsylvania) is a Lutheran theologian and professor at the Theological Seminary in Chicago. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

RAMSEY, Alfred (1860-1926), was born on April 12, 1860, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied at Thiel College and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He was ordained to the Pennsylvania Ministerium in 1885 and served pastorates at Scenery Hill and Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and at Minneapolis and Stacy, Minnesota. Ramsey was for thirteen years Professor of Historical Theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Chicago and is remembered as a skilful and fluent translator of German hymns into English. He died June 20, 1926. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 28, 52

 

Recueil de plusieurs chansons, Lyons, 1557

465

 

Redhead, Richard, 1820-1901

Richard Redhead, born 1820, composed this melody (Debenham, Redhead 143, St. Nicholas, St. Bede). At an early age he became chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford. Here he became acquainted with the Rev. F. Oakeley, who secured his appointment as organist of Margaret Street Chapel in 1839. Redhead’s Plainsong Psalter, Laudes Diurnae, 1843, and Church Hymn Tunes, 1853, and others, were the leading productions in church music during the prosperous period of the English Catholic Church of the nineteenth century. From 1864 Redhead was organist of St. Mary Magdalene Church, Paddington. He has written a number of hymn tunes which are simple and churchly in spirit. He died in 1901. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

REDHEAD, Richard (1820-1901), was born March 1, 1820, at Harrow. He became a chorister of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he came under the influence of the Rev. Frederick Oakeley, who invited him to become organist at Margaret Street Chapel (subsequently All Saints Church), prominent in the Oxford movement. After serving there for twenty-five years, Redhead became the organist of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in 1864 and served in this capacity until 1894. With Oakeley Redhead edited the first Gregorian Psalter under the title of Laudes Diurnae. This and Redhead’s other works for the Church greatly influenced the music of the Catholic revival. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

284, 364, 429

 

Redner, Lewis Henry, 1831-1908

REDNER, Lewis Henry (1831-1908), was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he attended public school and later became a wealthy real-estate broker. He was organist of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia and was particularly active in organizing the Sunday-school of the church. With the help of Phillips Brooks, his pastor, he increased the attendance in the Sunday-school and Bible classes from thirty-six to over a thousand in nineteen years. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

137

 

Reed, Andrew, 1788-1862

REED, Andrew (1788-1862), son of a watchmaker of humble circumstances, was born in London, November 27, 1788. In his early years he joined the Congregational Church in the New Road, St. George’s-in-the-East. He was privately educated in his father’s business, but did not find the work to his liking. So upon the advice of one Rev. Matthew Wilks he entered Hackney Seminary in the New Road, East London, as a theological student under the Rev. George Collison in 1807. In November, 1811, he was ordained as pastor of the congregation in which he originally was a member and with which he remained until November 27, 1861. He was active in founding institutions for orphaned children in London. In 1834 Reed and the Rev. J. Matheson were sent to the Congregational Churches of America by the Congregational Union of England and Wales as a deputation, in order to promote peace and friendship between the two communities. He spent six months in America. On this visit Yale University conferred upon him the honorary degree of D. D. After his return to England he published his Visit to American Churches in 1836. In 1843 he published the Revival of Religion in Wycliffe Chapel, in 1861 his Sermons. He died February 25, 1862. His Hymn-Book was a work of years and was published in complete form in 1842. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

402

 

Reinagle, Alexander Robert, 1799-1877

Alexander Robert Reinagle (b. 1799, d. 1877) was of Austrian extraction. He was organist of St. Peter’s in the East, Oxford, 1822-53. He published two books of hymn tunes, 1836 and 1840. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

REINAGLE, Alexander Robert (1700-1877), was born at Brighton, England, on August 21, 1799, of a well-known musical family of Austrian extraction. He served for thirty-one years as organist at St. Peters-in-the-East, Oxford. He composed a number of songs and other musical pieces and published two books of hymn-tunes, chants, etc. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

155

 

Repository of Sacred Music, John Wyeth, 1813

42, 101

 

Reusner, Adam, 1496-c. 1575

REUSNER (Renssner, Reisner, Reissner), Adam (1496-c. 1575), was born at Mündelsheim, in Swabian Bavaria. He studied at Wittenberg, supported by the famous Captain Georg von Frundsberg, very likely as companion of Frundsberg’s second son, Melchior. There he learned to know Luther and other leaders of the Reformation. He studied Hebrew and Greek under Reuchlin in 1521. He then became private secretary to Georg von Frundsberg. Later, in November, 1526, we find him and his friend Jakob Ziegler with Georg von Frundsberg’s troops on a campaign in Italy, helping Charles V fight against Clemens VII. In 1530 he visited Jakob Ziegler at Strassburg, where he met Caspar Schwenkfeldt, whose friend and adherent he became. In 1563 he lived at Frankfurt-am-Main. But later he returned again to Mündelsheim, where he was still living in the year 1572. He died about 1575. Reusner wrote hymns as early as 1530. A manuscript at Wolfenbüttel entitled Tegliches Gesangbuch . . . durch Adam Reusner contains over forty of his own hymns. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

524

 

Reuter, Friedrich Otto (Fritz), 1863-1924

REUTER, Friedrich Otto (Fritz) (1863-1924), was born in Johannsbach, October 11, 1863, in the Erzgebirge, Sachsen, Germany. His father was Johann Friedrich Reuter, his mother Ida Augusta Friedericke, née Krätzel. After his confirmation he entered the Teachers Seminary in Waldenburg, graduating in 1884. The same year he accepted the position as assistant teacher at Oberlungwitz, near Chemnitz. In 1887 he accepted the position of teacher, organist, and choir director in Klingenthal. In 1892 he served at Rheinsdorf near Zwickau. In 1893 he went to Lichtenstein-Kallnberg where he was Kantor until 1904. His conscience would not let him serve any longer in the State Church. He, therefore, joined the Lutheran Free Church of Saxony. From 1904 to 1905 he served as teacher in a private boys school in Berlin. In 1905 he accepted a call to the parochial school of the Lutheran congregation in Winnipeg, Canada. In 1907 Reuter came to Bethlehem Congregation in Chicago. In 1908 he accepted a call from the Ev. Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin and Other States to serve as teacher of music at the Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn. On July 14, 1894, he married Clara I. Sonntag. Reuter took all the courses offered in the music department of the Waldenburg Seminary and also studied under such well-known teachers of his day as Reichardt at Waldenburg; Schneider and Schreck at Leipzig; Reinberger at München; and Thiel of the Akademisches Institut für Kirchenmusik at Berlin. Besides teaching music he composed church music for choirs and organ. Much of his work was left in manuscript. He died June 9, 1924. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

212

 

Reynolds, William Morton, 1812-76

REYNOLDS, William Morton (1812-1876), was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Jefferson College, Canonsburgy, and at the theological seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From 1833 to 1850 he was a professor at Pennsylvania College; from 1850 to 1853 president of Capital University, Columbus Ohio; and of Illinois State University from 1857 to 1860. Reynolds became a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1864. He founded the Evangelical Review, translated a number of hymns from the German, and edited a hymn-book for the General Synod. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 90

 

Rhabanus Maurus:see Maurus, Rhabanus.

 

Rheinfelsisches Deutsches Catholisches Gesangbuch, 1666

97

 

Riley, John Athelstan Laurie, 1858-1945

RILEY, John Athelstan Laurie (1858-1945), was born in London on August 10, 1858. He studied at Eton and at Pembroke College, Oxford (B. A. 1881; M. A. 1883), and served most of his life as a member of the House of Laymen of the Province of Canterbury. Riley helped compile the English Hymnal of 1906 and contributed nine translations from the Latin to it and three original hymns. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

540

 

Rimbach, J. Adam, 1871-1941

RIMBACH, J, Adam (1871-1941), son of Henry Rimbach and Catherine Elizabeth, née Brandau, was born in Elyria, Ohio, October 6, 1871. He was educated at Concordia College, Fort Wayne, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, graduating from the Seminary in 1893. His first charge was in Cleveland, where he taught in an academy (progymnasium), opened by the Lutheran congregations of Cleveland in order to gain more students for the ministry and the teaching professions. The Rev. O. Kolbe headed this institution for a time. Rimbach also conducted English services Sunday evenings in Zion Church, Cleveland. The panic of the early nineties and the cry of overproduction caused the school to be closed temporarily, and in 1895 he became pastor of Immanuel Church, Avilla, Indiana; in 1897 of Trinity Church, Zanesville, Ohio; in 1900 of St. Paul’s Church, Ashland, Kentucky; and in 1906 of Trinity Church, Portland, Oregon. On June 6, 1941, the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He married Marie Zorn and had four children. He published, among other works, Our Father Who Art in Heaven, and contributed articles and sermons to the periodicals of his Synod. He died on December 14, 1941. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 236

 

Ringwaldt, Bartholomäus, 1532-c. 1600

Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, (Ringwald, Ringwalt), was born in Frankfurt an der Oder, November 28, 1532. At 27 he began work as a minister. In 1566 he became Lutheran pastor of Langfeld, or Langenfeld, Brandenburg, where he labored until his death, presumably in 1599 or 1600. Ringwaldt exerted considerable influence both through his sermons and through his poems. He was a zealous and faithful Lutheran and a good German patriot. He was a bold and aggressive worker and was not afraid to speak his mind. He was a keen observer and recognized clearly the need of his times. In his didactic poems, which were published in many editions, he gave a number of-very interesting sketches of his age. But he was also a pedagog, a schoolmaster who could chastise; without regard for persons he swung the lash, and his own contemporaries in the ministry were often made to feel it keenly. In poetic power Ringwaldt resembled Luther. His best known hymn, “Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit,” “Det snart forvist paa Tiden er” (Landst. 573), has even been ascribed to Luther. Ringwaldt was one of the most prolific hymn writers of the 16th century. Wackernagel attributes to him 208 poems, of which 165 are hymns. In 1577 appeared his Der 91. Psalm neben sieben andern schönen Liedern; his Evangelia auf alle Sontag vnd Fest durchs ganze Jahr, about the year 1582. It contains hymns based upon the Gospel lessons for all the Sundays and holidays of the year. Handbüchlein: geistliche Lieder und Gebetlein, etc., was published in 1586. All these were published in Frankfurt an der Oder. Several of his hymns are found scattered among his poems mentioned above (Warnung des Trewen Eckharts and Die lauter Wahrheit). A selection of 59 Geistliche Lieder was published in Halle, 1853. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

RINGWALDT (Ringwalt, Ringwald), Bartholomäus (1532 - c. 1600), was born November 28, 1532, at Frankfurt a. O. He was ordained in 1557 and was pastor of two parishes before he settled in 1566 as pastor of Langenfeld near Sonnenburg, Brandenburg. He was still there in 1597, but seems to have died there in 1599, or at least not later than 1600. Ringwaldt exerted a considerable influence on his contemporaries as a poet of the people. After 1577 he published various didactic poems, giving a mirror of the times and of the morals of the people. He was one of the most prolific hymn-writers of the sixteenth century. Wackernagel gives 208 pieces under his name, about 165 of which may be called hymns. A selection of 59 as his Geistliche Lieder, with a memoir by H. Wendelbourg, was published at Halle in 1858. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

25, 26, 538

 

Rinkart, Martin, 1586-1649

Martin Rinkart (Rinckart) was born April 23, 1586, in Eilenburg, Saxony. Having completed the course at the Latin school in his home town, he became assistant teacher and chorister in the ThomasSchule at Leipzig. In 1602 he enrolled in the university as a student of theology. In 1610 he sought the office of deacon at Eilenburg and even received the recommendation of the city council. But the superintendent denied his application, apparently on the ground that Rinkart was a better musician than a theologian, but in reality because he did not wish to have as a co-worker one who had been born and raised in the city, and one who had at times shown a rather headstrong disposition. Rinkart, however, received an appointment as teacher and cantor in Eisleben, and a few months later he became deacon of the Church of St. Anna of that city. In 1613 he moved to Erdeborn, and in 1617 the city council of Eilenburg appointed him archdeacon of his native city. During his activity here the Thirty Years’ War broke out and Rinkart, filled with untiring love and selfsacrifice, had to undergo many severe trials. In 1637 a deadly pestilence raged in the city. Eight thousand people perished, and for a long period Rinkart, three times daily, accompanied a dozen or more to the grave. Scarcely was this visitation over when a terrible famine ensued. People were driven to desperate straits, even to the extent of eating the carcasses of dogs and cats. Rinkart faithfully shared his bread with the famished followers that gathered about his home. In 1639 the Swedish general levied a forced contribution of 30,000 thaler upon the city. Rinkart went out to the leader and begged for clemency, but to no avail. When he came back, he gathered the people of the city and said: “Come, dear parishioners, we have not found grace with men; let us beseech God to help us.” The bells tolled for the hour of prayer. The congregation sang “When in the hour of utmost need,” and Rinkart, kneeling, appealed to God in a fervent prayer. This made such a profound impression upon the Swedish commander, that he yielded the greater part of the demand.

Rinkart’s people did not seem to appreciate his kindness and faithfulness toward them. He was forced to pay an exorbitant rental for the use of the parsonage, and when soldiers were billeted upon the city, his home was always filled. In addition to all this he was drawn into a long and unjust litigation, which brought him into extreme debt and poverty. The terrible war ended in 1648, and on December 8, 1649, Rinkart passed to his reward.

Rinkart did not write many hymns. Only one has been translated into Danish, namely, “Now thank we all our God,” “Nu takker alle Gud,” which appeared in Pontoppidan’s Hymnary, 1740.

Rinkart wrote a great deal and was very proficient in music. Many of his works have evidently been lost. Among other productions he wrote spiritual comedies and dramas based upon the events of the Reformation period. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

RINKART (Rinckart), Martin (1586-1649), son of Georg Rinkart or Rinckart, cooper at Eilenburg on the Mulde, Saxony, was born at Eilenburg, April 23, 1586. After passing through the Latin school at Eilenburg, he became, in November of 1601, a foundation scholar and chorister of the St. Thomas’s School at Leipzig. This scholarship also allowed him to proceed to the University of Leipzig, where he matriculated for the summer session of 1602 as a student of theology. After he completed his course, he remained for some time in Leipzig. In March, 1610, Rinkart became a candidate for the post of diaconus at Eilenburg. He was presented by the Town Council, but the Superintendent refused to sanction this arrangement, nominally on the ground that Rinkart was a better musician than theologian, but really because he was unwilling to have as his colleague a native of Eilenburg with a will of his own. Not wishing to contest the matter, Rinkart applied for a vacant mastership at the gymnasium at Eisleben and entered on his duties there in the beginning of June, 1610, as sixth master, and also as cantor of the St. Nicholas Church. After holding this appointment for a few months, Rinkart became diaconus of St. Anne’s Church, in the Neustadt of Eisleben, and began his work there on May 28, 1611. Thereupon he became pastor at Erdeborn and Lyttichendorf in 1613. Finally he was invited by the Town Council of Eilenburg to become archidisconus there, and in November, 1617, he became once again a resident of Eilenburg. Here he died December 8, 1649. A memorial tablet to his memory, affixed to the house where he lived, was unveiled at Eilenburg on Easter Monday, April 26, 1886. Rinkart was a voluminous writer and a good musician. A considerable number of his books seem to have perished; others survive only in single copies. He began to write poetry early and was crowned as a poet apparently in 1614. Among other things he wrote a cycle of seven so-called Comedies, or rather dramas, on the Reformation Period, suggested by the centenary of the Reformation in 1617. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

63

 

Rippon, J., A Selection of Hymns, London, 1787

Dr. Rippon (Baptist minister and publisher of hymn books, London, 1751-1836). [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

521

 

Rische, A., 19th century

 

175

 

Rist, Johann, 1607-67

Johann Rist was born at Ottensen, near Hamburg, March 8, 1607. He was a son of Kaspar Rist, Lutheran pastor at Ottensen, and from his birth he had been designated by his parents to be a minister. He began to attend school in Hamburg, and at an early age proved to be a very gifted boy. Having graduated from the Bremen Gymnasium at the age of twenty, he entered the university of Rinteln, where he, under the influence of Josva Stegmann, began to take interest in hymnology. Having completed his work at Rinteln, he became tutor of the sons of a Hamburg merchant, and accompanied them to the university of Rostock, where he studied Hebrew, mathematics, and medicine. [It is claimed by some that he studied also at Leipzig, Utrecht, and Leyden.] At the time of his stay in Rostock, this university was almost deserted on account of the hardships caused by the Thirty Years’ War, and the pestilence kept him in the sick-bed for some length of time. After a sojourn in Hamburg he was engaged as private tutor for a family at Heide, Holstein, and while staying there he was betrothed to Elizabeth Stapfel, a sister of Judge Franz Stapfel. Shortly afterwards he was appointed pastor at Wedel, near Hamburg. In the spring of 1635 he married and settled at Wedel, where he labored until his death, August 31, 1667. Like the rest of his countrymen, Rist had to suffer much from the “famine, plundering, and pestilence” caused by the Thirty Years’ War; but otherwise he enjoyed a happy life at Wedel, devoting his time to his pastoral duties and to the writing of poetry. He was respected and honored by all who learned to know him, and gradually he became very famous. In 1644 he was made poet laureate by Emperor Ferdinand III, and in 1653 was raised to the rank of nobility by the same ruler. Duke Christian of Mecklenburg made him a councillor of his civil and ecclesiastical courts. In 1645 he was admitted as a member of the Pegnitz Order, and in 1647 as a member of the Fruitbearing Society, which had been organized by Opitz and was the most famous poets’ union of that time. In 1660 he became the founder and head of the Elbe Swan Order, which, however, did not survive his death.

Some writers describe Rist as a vain and ambitious man; but this must be refuted, and it also runs counter to the statements of several prominent historians. The fact that he belonged to the poets’ orders of his day and even organized one himself, testifies to his zeal in advancing the cause of poetry, and is by no means a proof that he cherished a vain craving for honor and fame. He has written about 680 hymns and spiritual songs. His hymn-writing embraces or covers, so to speak, the entire field of theology. There are poems for all classes and ranks and for almost all kinds of occasions in human life. Many of his songs are of inferior value and are not suited for church use, nor were they written for that purpose; but many will continue to be among the best church hymns. They are Scriptural, objective, full of Christian faith, and edifying in the best sense of that term. More than 200 of his hymns are said to have been in use in Germany, and many of them have been translated into other languages. The best of his hymns appeared in the following publications: Himlische Lieder, 50 hymns, Lüneburg, 1641, and Leipzig, 1642; Neuer Himlischer Lieder sonderbares Buch, 50 hymns, Lüneburg, 1651; Sabbatische Seelenlust, 58 hymns on the Sunday Gospels; Frommer und gottseliger Christen Alltägliche Hausmusik, 70 hymns, Lüneburg, 1854; Neüe musikalische Fest-Andachten, 52 hymns on the Sunday Gospels; Neüe musikalische Katekismus-Andachten, 50 hymns, Lüneburg, 1656. Among his secular poetry may be mentioned Friedewünschende Teutschland and Friedejauchzende Teutschland, two plays giving vivid pictures of the life and conditions of the common people during the Thirty Years’ War. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

RIST, Johann (1607-1667), was born on March 8, 1607, at Ottensen, near Hamburg, the son of the Rev. Kaspar Rist. From birth he was designated by his parents to be a minister. He attended school in Hamburg and at an early age proved to be a very gifted boy. At twenty Rist graduated from the Gymnasium Illustri at Bremen. Then he entered the University of Rinteln, where, under the influence of Josua Stegmann, he began to take an interest in hymnology. After his graduation from Rinteln, Rist became tutor of the sons of a Hamburg merchant and accompanied them to the University of Rostock, where he studied Hebrew, mathematics, and medicine. While he was at Rostock, the University was almost deserted on account of the hardships caused by the Thirty Years War. The pestilence kept Rist in the sickbed for some length of time. After a stay in Hamburg he was engaged as tutor in the house of the lawyer Heinrich Sager of Heide, Holstein. While staying there, Rist was betrothed to Elizabeth Stapfel, a sister of Judge Franz Stapfel, whose influence seems to have had a good deal to do with Rist’s appointment as pastor at Wedel, near Hamburg, shortly afterwards. In the spring of 1635 Rist married and settled at Wedel. He devoted his time to his pastoral duties and to the writing of poetry. Gradually he became famous. In 1644 he was made poet laureate by Emperor Ferdinand m and in 1635 was raised to the rank of nobility by the same ruler. Duke Christian of Mecklenburg made him a councilor of his civil and ecclesiastical courts. In 1645 Rist was admitted as a member of the Fruit-bearing Society, which had been organized by Opitz and was the most famous poets union of that time. In 1660 he became the founder and head of the Elbe Swan Order, which, however, did not survive his death on August 31, 1667. Johann Rist was a voluminous and many-sided writer. His secular works are of great interest to the student of the history of the times, and his occasional poems on marriages, etc., to the genealogist and local historian. He wrote about 680 hymns and spiritual songs, covering the entire field of theology. Not all of Rist’s hymns are of equal merit; many are poor and bombastic. But Rist never meant them for public worship, but for private use. Rist excels in his hymns for Advent and for Holy Communion. In general, the hymns of Johann Rist are Scriptural, objective, full of Christian faith, and edifying in the best sense of the word. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

105, 118, 322, 326, 332

 

Ristad, Ditlef Georgson, 1863-1938

RISTAD, Ditlef Georgson (1863-1938), was born November 22, 1863, at Overhallen, Norway. He attended the Kläbu Normal School and then became a teacher at the Namsos Middle School in Norway. Ristad emigrated in 1887 and attended Luther Seminary (C. T. 1892) and Chicago University. He held pastorates at Edgerton, East Koshkonong and Rockdale, and at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Between the years 1901 and 1919 he served successively as president of Albion Academy, of Park Region Luther College, and of the Lutheran Ladies Seminary, Red Wing, Minnesota. In 1897 he edited the Lutheran Sunday-school Hymnal and served on the committee for the Lutheran Hymnary and the Lutheran Hymnary Junior. In 1922 he published a volume of poems in the Norwegian language. He died September 20, 1938. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 252

 

Rodigast, Samuel, 1649-1708

Samuel Rodigast was born October 19, 1649, in Gröben, near Jena, where his father was minister He was educated at the University of Jena, where he (1676) was appointed assistant professor of philosophy. In 1680 he accepted a position as corrector of the Greyfriars’ gymnasium at Berlin. He was offered a professorship at the University of Jena, and the rectorship of the schools in Stade and Stralsund, but declined. In 1690 he was appointed rector for the Greyfriars’ institution, in which position he continued until his death, in 1703. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

RODIGAST, Samuel (1640-1708), was born October 19, 1649, in Gröben, near Jena. He studied at Weimar and then at Jena, where he later became adjunct of the philosophical faculty. From 1680 on he served as conrector and later rector at the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Berlin, where he remained, in spite of offers from other schools, such as Jena, until his death, March 29, 1708. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

519

 

Roh, Johann: see Horn.

 

Rosenmüller, Johann, c. 1619-84

The melody of this hymn is by Johann Rosenmüller, director of music, Leipzig and Wolfenbüttel, of the 17th century. The melody was composed in 1655 and later united with Albinus’ hymn, “Straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn” (L. H. 522). [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

253, 424, 454, 509

 

Rosenroth, Christian Knorr, Baron von, 1636-89

Christopher Knorr von Rosenroth, a learned German theologian, Orientalist, and hymn writer, was born in Altranden, Silesia, July 15, 1636. He was educated in Leipzig and Wittenberg; later he traveled in France, England, and Holland. On these travels he met Dr. Henry More, Rabbi Meier Stern, and Dr. John Lightfoot, and was induced by them to study alchemy, Oriental languages, and especially Kabbala (the oral tradition of the Jews, transmitted from Adam; the secret wisdom of the Rabbis). [Kabbala means, in this connection, the Jewish mystico-theosophic philosophy of religion; it arose from a desire for a deeper religious consciousness, as mysticism in Christianity.] Through these studies Rosenroth came in touch with Palsgrave Christian August, who in 1668 appointed him prime minister and privy councillor. In 1677 he was created baron by Emperor Leopold I. Rosenroth strove to harmonize the doctrines of Kabbala and Christianity. His monumental work, Kabbala Denudata, Sulzbach, 1677, made him world-famous. He ranks high as a writer of hymns. His hymns were published in 1684 under the title: Neuer Helicon mit seinen neuen Musen, das ist: Geistliche Sitten-Lieder. This volume contained 70 hymns, of which a few are translations from the Latin, others are versions of old German hymns. Sixteen of Rosenroth’s hymns were taken up by Freylinghausen in his hymnal, published in 1704, and again in 1714. The hymnologist Hoch says of Rosenroth’s hymns that they are the product of a noble, pure, and deep mysticist, with a truly poetic sentiment, and a fervent desire for union with Christ. Rosenroth died in 1689. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

ROSENROTH, Christian Knorr, Baron von (1636-1689), was born on July 15, 1636, at Altrauden, Silesia, where his father was a pastor. He studied at Stettin, Leipzig, and Wittenberg and continued his studies traveling to Holland, France, and England. On these travels von Rosenroth met Dr. Henry More, Rabbi Meier Stern, and Dr. John Lightfoot. Although he was an ardent seeker after the philosopher’s stone, von Rosenroth found truth and peace only in Christianity. Later he served as pastor in Silesia. He became proficient not only in philosophy and chemistry, but also in theology and cabalistic lore. His memory was so unique that he knew nearly the whole Bible by heart. He died at Sulzback, Bavaria, at the very hour, so it is said, which he himself had predicted, May 8, 1689. He wrote 70 hymns, which show him to be a mystic of the school of Scheffler; they are full of a glowing desire for inner union with God in Christ. He was, indeed, a great scholar and statesman, and his learning led to his being taken into the service of the Palsgrave Christian August of Sulzbach, and that prince made him his prime minister in 1668. He was created a baron by Emperor Leopold I. His greatest pleasure was the study of the Kabbala - the oral tradition of the Jews, supposedly transmitted from Adam; the secret wisdom of the rabbis. He edited rabbinical writings, and his Kabbala Denudata made him world-famous. He strove to harmonize the doctrine of the Kabbala and Christianity. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

75, 84

 

Ross, Roger R., 1817-99

289

 

Rothe, Johann Andreas, 1688-1758

Johann Andreas Rothe was born in Lissa, near Görlitz, Silesia, May 12, 1688. His father was pastor in Lissa. From the “Gymnasium” of Görlitz and Breslau young Rothe went, 1708, to the university of Leipzig to study theology. Following the final examinations he accepted a position as private tutor in the family of von Schweidnitz, near Görlitz. He preached frequently in the neighboring churches, and at one time Count N. L. von Zinzendorf happened to hear him and was so favorably impressed with the young man that he called him as pastor of Berthelsdorf in 1722. He was installed on August 30, 1722. His field included also the congregation of the Moravian Brethren of Herrnhut. Rothe’s firm stand in matters pertaining to the Church together with his fearlessness over against Zinzendorf finally brought on a break between the two. When Rothe was requested to report to the church authorities concerning Zinzendorf’s doctrine and practice, the latter was highly incensed, and Rothe resigned and accepted a call to Hermsdorf, near Görlitz. In 1739 he moved to Thommendorf, near Bunzlau, and labored there until his death, July 6, 1758.

There can be no doubt that Rothe in the beginning of his activity was greatly influenced by Zinzendorf, his colleague, as he was, on the whole, in sympathy with the Pietistic tendencies. This is especially apparent in his hymn writing and has rather enhanced the value of his hymn poetry. Whereas his forty or more church hymns are of a churchly character, they are all permeated by a marked sincerity and depth of feeling which characterizes the best productions of Zinzendorf and the Pietistic school. Later he approached more and more the strict and orthodox Lutheranism. For this reason also Zinzendorf failed in his attempt to again enlist Rothe’s services in the Moravian Church. Rothe is described as an able theologian, a fearless witness for truth, and a prominent preacher. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

ROTHE, Johann Andreas (1688-1758), son of the Rev. Ägidius Rothe, was born at Lissa, May 12, 1688. As student of theology he graduated from the University of Leipzig; in 1712 he was licensed at Görlitz as a general preacher. Count von Zinzendorf heard him preach and later gave him a pastorate at Berthelsdorf (August 30, 1722). In 1737 Zinzendorf was displeased with Rothe’s doctrinal views; so Rothe accepted a call to Hermsdorf, near Görlitz, where he became minister in 1737. In 1739 he became assistant pastor at Thommendorf, near Bunzlau, where in 1742 he was made chief pastor and remained there until his death on July 6, 1758. His hymns number about 40. Though they do not rank high as poetry, yet they are characterized by glow and tenderness of feeling and by depth of Christian experience. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

499

 

Rung, Henrik, 1807-71, composer, born 31 March 1807 in Copenhagen, died the same place 12 December 1871. His childhood was in Næstved, where his father was toll-collector; in his younger years he studied the guitar, but first later he attained a real artistic development from his musical abilities (under L. Zinck and Weyse). Some years he was contrabassist in the royal chapel, but it was first in 1837 when he performed as composer of the music for “Svend Dyrings Hus” that he became known to a greater public. A number of years Rung lived as a real artist’s life in Italy in the Thorvaldsen circle and studied old Italian music; later he set himself to studying the art of singing in Paris. In 1842 Rung was installed as song-master at the royal theater and was at that tie a very much employed, productive theater composer for various plays and operas, of which non continue in the repertoire. His talent was a real lyric character, and his significance therefore came at being a composer of some romances, some hymn-melodies and folk-style songs. The fresh, natural melody and the folk-like knack in his songs brought them a significant dissemination. As a hymn composer Rung came through P. O. Bojsen in connection with the Vartov congregation and wrote for it his most famous melodies for “Krist stod op af Døde”, “Alt staar I Guds Faderhaand”, “Tag det sorte kors fra Graven”, “Rejs op dit Hoved al Kristenhed”, the baptism hymn “O, lad din Aand”, “Lad det klinge sødt i Sky” etc. By their folk-like power they penetrated strongly, and at the same time they established a successful artistic moment against the musical democratism rampant in Vartov singing. On 29 October 1851 Rung founded the Cecilia Society, which was to work for familiarity with classical Italian church music, and thus reached its goal in a model society which in great style has accomplished the work of make older church music known here at home. A bitter literary feud which struck him through the years, he carried on with 50 (in “Fædrelandet” and “Dansk Kirketidende”) against Berggreen (in “Berl. Tid.” and “Evang. Ugeskr.”) regarding Berggreen’s new chorale-book and its lack of reverence for the old Weyse chorale-book. Rung collected his own melodies and Vartov-melodies in 1857 into a so-called “Supplement to Weyse’s Chorale-Book”, originally 50 melodies, among them those by Gade, Hartmann, Barnekow, and others. [Kirkeleksikon for Norden}

229

 

Rupprecht, Oliver C., b. 1903

 

tr. 358

 

Russell, Arthur Tozer, 1806-74

ARTHUR TOZER RUSSELL was born in Northampton, March 20, 1806. He was the son of a Dissenter minister, William Russell, who preached in Enfield and London. The son received his early education in St. Savior’s School of Southwark and the Merchant Taylors’ School of London. In 1822 he came to Manchester College, York, and completed his education in St. John’s College, Cambridge. Here he received a prize for his treatise, The Law Our School-Master to Bring Us to Christ. In 1829 he was ordained by the bishop of Lincoln, and from 1830 to 1852 he served as vicar of Caxton, Cambridge. During this period he wrote extensively on theological themes. About 1840 he published Hymn Tunes, Original and Selected. Many of his original hymns, together with translations from the German, appeared in Hymns for Public Worship, 1848, Dalston Hospital, London. In 1847 Christian Life was published, and in 1851 his edition of Psalms and Hymns. His original hymns and translations have been included in several hymnals. A great number of them appeared in Dr. B. H. Kennedy’s Hymnologia Christiana, 1863. He has also composed melodies which are in use. His hymn poems are characterized by religious fervor and deep piety. He wrote in all upwards of 140 hymns. After serving at Whaddon; at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool; and at Wrockwardine Wood, he finally removed to the rectorship of Southwick, near Brighton, where he died November 18, 1874, after a protracted illness. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

RUSSELL. T., Arthur Tozer (1800-1874), son of the Rev. Thomas Clout (later Russell), was born at Northampton, March 20, 1806. He was educated at St. Saviour’s School, Southwark, and at Merchant Taylors’ School, London. From 1822 to 1824 Russell attended Manchester College, York. In 1825 he entered St. John’s College Cambridge, and in his freshman year gained the Hulsean Prize. In 1829 Russell was ordained by the Bishop of Lincoln and served first as curate of Great Gransden and was then preferred to the Vicarage of Caxton, where he remained until 1852, when he went to the Vicarage of Whaddon, Cambridgeshire. Russell left there in 1866 for St. Thomas’s, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. The following year he was at Wrockwardine Wood, Shropshire, where he stayed until 1874 when he was presented to the Rectory of Southwick, near Brighton. Here Russell died after a long and distressing illness on November 18, 1874. Russell started his ecclesiastical life as an extreme high churchman, but through the study of Saint Augustine his views were changed, and he became and continued until his end a moderate Calvinist. He was a prolific writer. His best prose work appeared in 1859 under the title Memorials of the Life and Works of Bishop Andrewes. His hymnological works include: Hymn-Tunes, Original and Selected, from Ravenscroft and other old Musicians, c. 1840; Hymns for Public Worship, 1848, which contained some of his own hymns, original and translated from the German. In 1851 Russell published Psalms and Hymns, partly original, partly selected, for the use of the Church of England. He wrote 140 hymns; they are characterized as gracious and tender, thoughtful and devout. His translations are vigorous and strong. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

58

tr. 135, 136, 208, 224, 322, 581

 

Rygh, George Alfred Taylor, 1860-1942

RYGH, George Alfred Taylor (1860-1942), was born March 21, 1860, at Chicago, Illinois. He graduated as A. B. from Luther College in 1881. Thereafter he studied at Luther Seminary and Capital University. During 1883 Rygh served as teacher at the former institution. The following year he became a pastor in Portland, Maine, which position he held until 1889. From then on Rygh alternated regularly between the ministry and the teaching profession, serving as teacher at Wittenberg Academy, 1889-1890; pastor at Grand Forks, North Dakota, 1890-1891; teacher at North Dakota University, 1891-1895; pastor at Mount Horeb, Wisconsin., 1895-1898; pastor at Chicago, 1899-1910; teacher at St. Olaf College, 1910-1913; pastor at Minneapolis, Minnesota (1920-1930); as pastor emeritus he resided in Northfield, Minnesota. From 1909 to 1914 Rygh served as editor of the United Lutheran. He was associate editor of the American Lutheran Survey, 1914-1921. In 1925 Rygh became an editor of the Lutheran Herald. He served as a member of the Committee on the Lutheran Hymnary, for which he translated a number of hymns. He translated several devotional books from the Norwegian. He was honored with the degree of Litt. D. from Newberry College, Newberry, South Carolina, in 1917. In 1919 and 1920 Rygh served as National Lutheran Council Commissioner to the Baltic States. He died July 16, 1942. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 4, 215, 230, 241, 348, 354, 399, 437, 449, 516, 590, 595, 601

tr.

 

 

Sacer, Gottfried Wilhelm, 1635-99

Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer was born July 11, 1635, in Naumburg. At the age of 20 he entered the University of Jena, where he studied philosophy and law for four years. He served two years as secretary to von Platen, privy counsellor of Berlin. Later he served as tutor for a few young noblemen until 1665, when he entered military service as regimental secretary under the commander of Lüneburg and served also as ensign for a time., In 1667 he left the service and went to Kiel to present himself for the final examination for the degree of doctor of jurisprudence. First, however, he made a journey into Holland and Denmark in company with a number of students from Holstein. In 1670 he located as a lawyer in Brunswick. The following year he was granted his doctor’s degree, and in 1683 removed to Wolfenbüttel, where he became lawyer of the exchequer. In 1690 he was appointed counsellor of the exchequer. As a lawyer and statesman he became noted for conscientious work and was so unselfish in his practice that he would handle the court cases of poor people without pay; in a number of cases he even assisted in paying the costs. He died September 8, 1699, in Wolfenbüttel. He expressed the desire that his funeral sermon should be preached upon Psalm 73:23-24: “Nevertheless I am continually with Thee: Thou hast holden my right hand. Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.”

Sacer began to write poems at an early age. In 1660 he was accepted as a member of the “Order of the Elbe Swans” and was later presented with the wreath of laurels by the emperor himself. “A more beautiful wreath, however, was the one woven by himself: the 65 hymns which he wrote” (Skaar). His hymns are among the best of the period immediately following Gerhardt. They are permeated with a warmth of poetic feeling; they are thoroughly Scriptural and noted for their euphony of expression. Landstad’s Hymn Book contains three of Sacer’s hymns: No. 169, “Igjennem Tidens Plager”; No. 439, “Den Idræt Gud er tackkelig”; No. 634, “Kom, Menneske, at skue mig.” Sacer’s hymns were compiled and published by his son-in-law under the title Geistliche Liebliche Lieder, Gotha, 1714. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SACER, Gottfried Wilhelm (1635-1699), judged by many to be one of the greatest hymnists immediately following the Gerhardt period, was born on July 11, 1635, in Naumberg, Saxony, where his father was senior burgomaster. At the age of twenty he entered the University of Jena as a student of philosophy and law. He held the office of secretary to the privy counselor at Berlin for two years and also served as tutor to some young noblemen until 1665, when he entered military service, first as regimental secretary and later as ensign. Two years later he left the service, planning to apply for the degree of doctor of jurisprudence at Kiel. Before this came about, he toured Holland and Denmark with some young Holstein noblemen. In 1670 he was a lawyer in Brunswick, receiving his degree in the following year. In 1683 he went to Wolfenbüttel to become lawyer of the exchequer; here he was appointed counselor of the exchequer in 1690. He earned a fine reputation as lawyer and statesman, being very unselfish and conscientious, handling the cases of the poor without pay and sometimes even assisting in paying costs. He died September 8, 1699, at Wolfenbüttel. Sacar showed poetic ability at an early age and was made a member of the poetical Order of Elbe Swans in 1660. He is often described as the “Kayserlicher Poet,” for he had been crowned with a wreath of laurels by the Emperor of Austria himself. He wrote 65 hymns; they were published in 1714 by his son-in-law under the title Geistliche Liebliche Lieder. They can be characterized as having poetic glow, dramatic force, euphony of expression, Scriptural content, and excellent style. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

391

Sächsisches Choralbuch, Leipzig, 1815

 

582

 

Sanden (see Arneson)

 

tr. Sarum plainsong

10, 108, 273

 

Savonarola, Girolamo, 1454-98

Girolamo Savonarola was born 1454, in Italy. He became a member of the Dominican Order of Friars. In Florence (Firenze) he appeared as a preacher of repentance. With fiery zeal he attacked the ungodliness and licentiousness of his times, and multitudes of people came to hear his impressive sermons. “The Church must be regenerated. The punishment from God will fall upon Italy and the whole world. The ministers of God busy themselves only with the outward ceremonies. The inner worship of God, they know not.” Pope Alexander sought to win him over by the promise of a cardinal’s hat, but to no avail. “I desire no hat but that of the martyr, dyed in my own blood.” Thereupon the pope ordered him to cease preaching. Soon after Savonarola resumed his preaching more vigorously than before, because he v.as personally convinced that he was sent by God. The pope placed him under the ban, but even that did not frighten him. He called the pope an atheist and appealed to the rulers of Europe to convoke a council to depose the shameful incumbent of the chair of St. Peter. Savonarola was executed in 1498. He must be regarded as one of the important forerunners of the Reformation.

Savonarola found his spiritual songs to be of great help in furthering his cause. Florence was at that time ruled by Lorenzo di Medici, who wrote many frivolous ballads which he called Canti Carnascialeschi (Carnival Songs) to be sung during the carnivals. To counteract the influence of these ballads, Savonarola wrote spiritual songs in the same meter and set to the same tunes. At an earlier period he had written poems on the subjects of Doomsday, the Decadent Condition of the Church, and, as a supplement to a treatise on the Love of Christ, he wrote a number of hymns entitled: Laude e Contemplazioni infiammative (Inspiring Hymns of Meditation and Praise). Savonarola’s hymns have been severely criticized by many scholars. Italian critics say that his hymns are poorly worked out and unsuited for church use. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SAVONAROLA, Girolemo (1454-1498), was born in Italy. Becoming a Dominican Friar, he appeared as a preacher of repentance in Florence, fearlessly attacking the ungodliness and licentiousness of the times. Pope Alexander vainly sought to win him over by the promise of a cardinal’s hat. The Pope finally ordered him to cease preaching, but Savonarola, personally convinced that he was sent by God, preached all the more vigorously. He was placed under the papal ban, but even this did not avail. Savonarola called the Pope an atheist and appealed to the rulers of Europe to convoke a council to depose the shameful incumbent of the papal chair. But the ecclesiastical and secular courts decided that Savonarola should be hanged and afterwards burnt. This sentence was executed on May 23, 1498, and so Savonarola met his death as a martyr. He must be regarded as one of the important forerunners of the Reformation. His spiritual songs helped to further his reform movement. He wrote them in the same meter and set them to the same tunes as the frivolous carnival songs of Lorenzo de Medici. Yet Lorenzo de Medici thought so much of Savonarola that he asked him to come to his death-bed and hear his confession. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

240

 

Scandinavian

580

 

Schaefer, William John, 1891-1976

SCHAEFER, William John (1891- ), was born January 30. 1891 at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the son of John H. Schaefer and Dorothea, née Ellermann. He was educated at Northwestern College, Watertown, Wisconsin. After completing two years of the college department, he entered the Concordia Theological Seminary at Springfield, Illinois, graduating in 1913. His first charge was at Garrison, Nebraska. In the fall of the year 1919 he accepted a call to Colome, South Dakota, in the very heart of the recently opened Rosebud Indian Reservation. After ten years of service here he left for Milwaukee in 1929 to take charge of the Church of the Atonement, where he is pastor at the present time. In 1935 he was appointed associate editor of the Northwestern Lutheran, the official organ of the Joint Synod of Wisconsin and Other States, and became its Managing Editor, 1939-1956. He married Pencies C. Palmer in 1913. Of their five children three are living. He was a member of the Intersynodical Committee on Hymnology and Liturgies, which prepared The Lutheran Hymnal. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 212, 533

 

Schaeffer, Charles William, 1813-96

Our present English version was rendered by Dr. C. W. Schaffer (b. 1813 in Maryland; d. 1896), professor of theology at the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHAEFFER, Charles William (1813-1896), was born in Hagerstown, Maryland May 5, 1813; graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was pastor at Barren Hill, Pennsylvania, 1835-1840; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1840-1849; Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1849 to 1874; and then became professor in the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, serving until 1894, when he was retired as professor emeritus. For many years Dr. Schaeffer was president of the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania. He was also president of the General Synod and the General Council and served the University of Pennsylvania as a trustee from 1859 till his death in Philadelphia, March 15, 1896. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 422, 438

 

Schaff, Philip, 1819-93

SCHAFF, Philip (1819-1893), was born at Chur, Switzerland, January 1, 1819. He studied theology in Germany, taught for a while in Berlin, and in 1844 became professor of theology at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. After serving the Church in various other capacities, he became professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York, in 1870. Schaff was active in the Reformed revision of the English Bible. He is perhaps best known for his Church History reference works. He published Deutschec Gesangbuch, 1860, Christ in Song, 1869; Hymns and Songs of Praise, 1874. Together with A. Gilman he published Library of Religious Poetry, 1881. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 266

 

Schalling, Martin, 1532-1608

Martin Schalling was born in Strassburg April 21, 1532. He took up his studies in Wittenberg in 1550 and became one of Melanchthon’s favorite pupils. He was also an intimate friend of Selnecker. Having received his M. A. degree, he lectured for a time in Wittenberg, and in 1554 was called to the office of diaconus of Regensburg. In a short time, however, he incurred the displeasure of Bishop Gallus, who favored the teachings of Mathias Flacius. When Schalling in his sermons attacked Flacius, he was compelled to resign, in 1558. He was called to Amberg, but was again compelled to resign, this time because of his opposition to the Calvinistic views of Elector Friedrich III. Friedrich’s son, the later Elector Ludwig of Saxony, who was a Lutheran, recalled Schalling to Amberg in 1576 and made him court preacher and superintendent. After Friedrich’s death, the same year, he was made general superintendent of Oberphalz and court preacher of Heidelberg. A few years later, however, he fell from grace with the elector and had to resign his office, this time because he declined to accept the Formula of Concord, for the reason that this document, in his opinion, contained unjust attacks upon the followers of Melanchthon. In 1585 Schalling was called to the pastorate of Nürnberg, where he served until he lost his eye-sight a few years later. He died in Nürnberg, 1608. Schalling was not a man of strife. But the bitter doctrinal controversies of that period distracted the Church, and the ministers, often against their wish, were drawn into the struggle. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHALLING, Martin (1532-1608), was born at Strassburg, April 21, 1532. He matriculated in 1550 at the University of Wittenberg, where he became a favorite pupil of Melanchthon (q. v.) and a great friend of Nicolaus Selnecker (q. v.): He continued for a short time at Wittenberg as a lecturer after he earned his M. A. degree, and then, in 1554, he became diaconus at Regensburg. Schalling preached against Flacianism and, as a result, he had to give up his post in 1558. Soon after, he was appointed diaconus at Amberg, Bavaria. In 1568, after the Elector Friedrich III, of the Palatinate had adopted Calvinistic opinions as to the order of service, etc., Schalling had to leave Amberg, since all the Lutheran clergy who would not conform to the change were expelled. But as Duke Ludwig, the son of the Elector, continued as a Lutheran, he allowed Schalling to minister to the spiritual needs of the Lutherans at Vilseck, near Amberg. After Ludwig became Regent of the Oberpfalz, he recalled Schalling to Amberg in 1576 as court preacher and superintendent, and when after his father’s death on October 24, 1576, he became Elector of the Pfalz, he appointed Schalling as General Superintendent of the Oberpfalz and also court preacher at Heidelberg. When the clergy of the Oberpfalz were pressed to sign the Formula of Concord, Schalling hesitated to subscribe, holding that it dealt too harshly with the followers of Melanchthon. For this action he was banished from the court at Heidelberg, and after being confined to his house at Amberg from 1580 to March, 1583, he was finally deprived of his offices. He stayed for some time at Altdorf and then was appointed, in 1585, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Nürnberg, where he remained until blindness compelled him to retire. He died at Nürnberg, December 19, 1608. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

406

 

Scheffler, Johann (Angelus Silesius), 1624-77

Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius) was born 1624 in Breslau in Silesia. His father, Stanislaus Scheffler, was a Polish nobleman, but was forced to leave his country because of his adherence to the Lutheran faith. He moved to Breslau and here the son was educated in the Lutheran faith and doctrine. He completed the course of study in the Breslau Gymnasium and later studied medicine at Strassburg, Leyden, and Padua. He received the degrees of doctor of medicine and of philosophy and was appointed as private physician to the German Duke of Württemberg-Oels. Scheffler was attracted by the mystics and applied himself seriously to the study of Tauler, Jacob Böhme, and Thomas a Kempis. After some time he became convinced that the Lutheran Church had become entangled in dead literalism. In his position he was in constant touch with Lutherans. He began to give expression to his views, and this brought him into a controversy which ended with his joining the Catholic Church. In 1653 he was formally accepted as a member. Now he adopted the name Angelus, very likely in memory of the Spanish monk and mystic, John ab Angelis. The name Silesius was added, so that he should not be mistaken for the Lutheran theologian Johann Angelus of Darmstadt. In 1654 he was appointed imperial court physician to Ferdinand III. This was, however, only honorary. In 1661 he joined the Franciscan order and was ordained to the priesthood and sent to Nüsse, Silesia. In 1664 he became councillor and lord steward to his friend Sebastian von Rostock, the newly elected prince bishop of Breslau. After the bishop’s death, in 1671, Scheffler retired to the St. Mathias cloister in Breslau, where he died in 1677.

Scheffler began to write hymns at an early age. One collection, 206 in number, under the title Heilige Seelenlust, oder Geistliche Hirtenlieder, was published in 1657, and later an edition appeared with 50 new hymns added. In view of the circumstances, it was but natural that his hymns should possess mystic tendencies. They are marked by deep sincerity. The keynote of his song is the intense yearning of the soul after union with God. The greater number of his hymns were written before he became a Catholic. They were received with joy, and are extensively used in the Lutheran Church. “We sing his hymns with a rejoicing which is intensified accordingly as Jesus becomes our all in all” (Skaar). His reputation as a writer of hymns is growing. Some of his hymns were recently translated and published in Scribner’s Monthly. G. McDonald says that Scheffler’s hymns are a force in showing forth the beauty of the Church of God. Bishop Skaar relates, as a proof of Scheffler’s zeal for Catholicism: “In 1662 he arranged that the festival of Corpus Christi should be celebrated with processions, drums and trumpets, and Scheffler had the doubtful honor of carrying the monstrance (the framework of gold or silver, in which the consecrated wafer or host is held up to view before the congregation). This festival had not been celebrated in Breslau since the time of the Reformation.” It is difficult to understand a criticism of this kind. Would it have been more to Scheffler’s honor if he had attempted to remain part Lutheran and part Catholic? This characteristic simply shows the integrity of his personality. He put his whole soul and being into that which he chose to be.

Landstad has made use of only two of Scheffler’s hymns, although he speaks of him as “the beloved writer of excellent Jesus-hymns.” The Lutheran Hymnary contains five—68, 169, 403, 445, 474. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHEFFLER, Johann (Angelus Silesius) (1624-1677), was born in 1624 of Lutheran parents in Breslau, Silesia. While a young man, he became deeply interested in the mystics, especially in the teachings of a Spaniard, John ab Angelis. Because of his interest in this man, he assumed the name Angelus. The name Silesius is derived from the name of his native state, Silesia. As a boy he became the disciple of the famous shoemaker Jacob Böhme, another mystic, whose writings on the “Inner Life” were scattered throughout Germany. He studied medicine at Breslau and also at Strassburg. He visited various societies and finally attached himself to a society in Amsterdam, one that had adopted the tenets of Böhme. When he returned to his home in 1649, he practiced medicine as the private physician to the Duke of Württemberg-Öls, Sylvius Nimrod. Here his intimate friend was Abraham von Frankenburg, another disciple of Böhme. Because he showed such a great interest in the mystics, the Lutheran clergy regarded him as a heretic and caused him such disgust by their continued contentions that he joined the Catholics in 1653. In 1654 he became Imperial Court Physician of Emperor Ferdinand III. He did not remain a doctor very long after attaching himself to Ferdinand, but gave up this profession and became a Catholic priest. He died July 9, 1677. He published Cherubinischer Wandersmann, 1675; Heilige Seelenlust, 1657. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

290, 409, 422

 

Scheidt, Christian Ludwig, 1709-61

SCHEIT, Christian Ludwig (1709-1761), was born in Waldenburg, Germany. He was the son of a German official and first attended school at Öhringen. Between the years 1724 and 1730 he was a student at the universities of Altdorf and Strassburg. During his first two years after his graduation from the latter school he served in the capacity of Hofmeister in a small German city. After that, he studied theology at Halle and philosophy at Göttingen. While attending at Halle, he studied diligently and debated theological questions with his professors. It is said that he attended Halle to study and understand the things of God, spiritual things; and his reason for attending Göttingen was to receive a full understanding of the thoughts and works of men. In other words, he wanted a very broad knowledge of men and God. Shortly after he graduated from Göttingen, he was made a doctor of laws and was appointed a member of the faculty of that school. Later on he taught at the University of Copenhagen. He died at Hanover in 1761, where he was Hofrat and librarian. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

226

 

Schein, Johann Hermann, 1586-1630

SCHEIN, Johann Hermann (1586-1630), born at Grünhain, near Annaberg, Saxony, January 20, 1586. From 1599 to 1603 he was in the choir of the chapel of the Elector of Saxony at Dresden; studied theology and philosophy at Leipzig; became director of music at Weimar in 1613; precentor in St. Thomas’s School, Leipzig, in 1615; and died November 19, 1630. His principal work is the Cantional or Gesangbuch Augsburgischer Confession, Leipzig, 1627. It contains 286 hymns and 206 tunes, of which 57 were by him. In the second edition of 1645, 22 more tunes of his composition were added. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

setting: 422

 

Schirmer, Michael, 1606-73

Michael Schirmer was born at Leipzig, apparently in July, 1606. He matriculated at the University of Leipzig, at Easter, 1619, and was graduated as M. A. in 1630. In 1636 he was appointed subrector, and in 1651 corrector of the Greyfriars’ gymnasium at Berlin. In 1668 he retired from office and spent the remainder of his life in Berlin, where he published, toward the close of 1668, a version of the Aeneid in German Alexandrine verse and wrote various occasional poems, etc. He died in Berlin May 4, 1673.

The hymnologist James Mearns says: “Schirmer had many domestic and personal afflictions to bear. His wife and his two children preceded him in death. The early part of his life in Berlin was spent amid the distress caused by the Thirty Years’ War, during which Brandenburg and Berlin itself suffered greatly from pestilence and poverty. In 1644 a deep melancholy fell upon him, which lasted for five years, and something of the same kind seems to have returned to him for a time after his wife’s death.

“Schirmer was crowned as a poet in 1637. His earlier productions were mostly occasional pieces in German and Latin. In 1655 he published in Berlin a metrical version of Ecclesiasticus as Das Buch Jesus Sirach; in 1660, also in Berlin, a Scriptural play, which was acted by the scholars of the gymnasium, and was entitled Der verfolgte David. He also published, Berlin, 1650, versions of the songs of the Old and New Testament as Biblische Lieder und Lehrsprüche. The only compositions by him which have come into use as hymns, are those which he contributed to J. Crüger’s Newes vollkömliches Gesangbuch, Berlin, 1640, and to Crüger’s Praxis Pietatis Melica, Berlin, 1648. These, five in all, passed into many German hymn books of the 17th century, and most of them are still in use. They are practical, clear, objective, churchly hymns, somewhat related to those of Gerhardt, and still more closely to those of Johann Heermann, from whom, indeed, Schirmer borrows a few expressions.” [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHIRMER, Michael (1606-1673), was born in Leipzig and studied there. In 1636 he was made the assistant rector of the Greyfriars gymnasium of Berlin. Because of his ill health he never gained the position of rector of the gymnasium, and when a younger man received the position, he retired. His chief reason for retiring, though, was his bad health, for he had suffered from illness since 1644. In spite of this handicap, he labored with determination and worked faithfully. The hardships of his life, including the deaths of his wife and two children and the sufferings of the Thirty Years War, cast a deep spell of melancholy over him. He published, among others, Biblische Lieder, 1650. He died at Berlin, May 4, 1673. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

27

 

Schlesische Volkslieder, Leipzig, 1842

54

 

Schmolck, Benjamin, 1672-1737

Benjamin Schmolck was born December 21, 1672, in Brauchitzchdorf, near Liegnitz, Silesia, where his father, Martin Schmolck (Schmolcke), was a minister. For five years he studied at the Lauban Gymnasium. When he came home he delivered a sermon which so pleased his father that he at once determined to provide the means for his theological education. He came to the university of Leipzig, where pious and able teachers, especially P. Olearius and J. B. Carpzov, exerted great influence upon him. He began to write poems, including occasional songs for the wealthy, securing for him a considerable extra income. Having passed the theological examinations, he returned in 1694 to his home, where he was ordained and called as his father’s successor. In 1702 he was chosen deacon of Friedenkirche in Schweidnitz. The Catholics had seized all the churches in this district. The Lutherans were permitted only a “meeting-house” (without steeple or tower ) erected outside the city limits. This meeting-house was the only Lutheran church for a district comprising about 36 villages. Here Schmolck labored during the remainder of his life. He was promoted to archdeacon, 1708, and to senior, 1712, pastor primarius and inspector, 1714. In 1716 the city of Schweidnitz was destroyed by fire, and many of those who were nearest to him died. He spent a comparatively quiet and carefree life until his 58th year. Then, on the third Sunday of Lent, while he was seated in his home, he was stricken with paralysis. His right side, arm, and leg were paralyzed. He recovered, however, sufficiently to continue his work for five years more in spite of great physical pain. On the Day of Humiliation and Prayer, 1735, he preached his last sermon. Another stroke cast him upon the sickbed, where he lay blind and speechless and was scarcely able to place his hand upon the heads of his people who came to him for blessing. He died on the anniversary of his wedding day, February 12, 1737. Schmolck was a beloved pastor, an able preacher, a man of tact and discretion. He was a prolific hymn writer. Most of his hymns and spiritual songs are found in different books published from 1704 to 1734. The first volume, entitled: Heilige Flammen der himmlisch-gesinnten Seele, appeared during Schmolck’s lifetime in 13 editions and made him famous throughout Germany. After his death his books were published in two volumes called: Sämmtliche Trost- und Geistreiche Schrifften, etc., in several editions. Schmolck was the most popular hymn writer of his time and has been called “the second Paul Gerhardt” and “the Silesian Rist.” His hymns are marked by deep religious fervor, and breathe the spirit of love and devotion to the Savior. But he did not attain to the poetic flights of Paul Gerhardt, neither does he approach his simple, concise, and noble diction, rich poetic imagery and power. But several of his hymns are marked by great warmth and intense feeling, in spite of the fact that many are of less value. He wrote too many hymns, particularly during his later years, and there seems to have been a conscious effort to produce high-sounding expressions. In all he composed about 900 hymns, aside from a great number of spiritual songs. The hymnologist, Bishop Skaar, says that Schmolck wrote a total of 1,183 hymns and spiritual songs. Several of his hymns have been translated into many languages. Forty. one have been translated into English and of these, sixteen have been taken up into various hymnals. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHMOLCK, Benjamin (1672-1737), was born at Brauchitzchdorf, December 21 1672. He studied at Leipzig. After a year as assistant to his father at Brauchitzchdorf he was called as deacon to the Friedenskirche at Schweidnitz in Silesia, where he remained till death becoming pastor primarius and inspector in 1714. He wrote a number of devotional books in which his hymns were included. Of these there was a total of 1,183. He published his Kirchen-gefährte, 1732, Heilige Flammen, 1704, Klage und Reigen, 1734, and a number of other works. The most popular German hymn-writer of his day, he was called the second Gerhardt, Silesian Rist. He died February 12, 1737. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

28, 29, 30, 244

 

Schop, Johann, c.1590-1667

The melody is by Johann Schop, German violinist and composer, born in Hamburg at the beginning of the 17th century; died in his native city, 1664 or 1665. Schop was a friend of Rist, for whose hymns he composed a number of melodies. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHOP, Johann (?-c. 1664), joined the court orchestra in Wolfenbüttel in 1615 as an intelligent performer on the violin, lute, trumpet, and zinke. In 1664 he became director of music at Hamburg, where he had been “Ratsmusikant” since 1654. Here in Hamburg Schop settled permanently and became a violinist of renown. He wrote much instrumental music. His many hymn-tunes were written for the hymns of his fellow-townsman and friend Johann Rist (q. v.). [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

13, 118, 230, 354, 448, 457, 507

 

Schott, J. G., 1603

 

417

 

Schröder, Johann Heinrich, 1667-99

Johann Heinrich Schröder was born October 4, 1667, at Hallerspringe, near Hannover. He was educated at the University of Leipzig, where he was deeply stirred by the lectures of A. H. Francke. In 1696 he was called to the pastorate of Meseberg, and entered upon his duties there on his 29th birthday. He died in Meseberg, 1699. Schröder is best known through the four hymns which were included in Geistreiches Gesangbuch, Halle, 1697, and in Freylinghausen’s Gesangbuch of 1704. Two of his hymns were made use of by Landstad. His hymn, “Jesu, giv Seier” (Landst. 471), was branded as chiliastic by the theological faculty of Wittenberg, on account of the last two stanzas, and these were revised in subsequent editions. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHROEDER, Johann Heinrich (1667-1699), was born at Hallerspringe, near Hanover, October 4, 1667. He studied at the University of Leipzig and while there came under the influence of A. H. Franke. In 1696 he became pastor at Mesaberg. He died June 30, 1699. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

182

 

Schuette, Conrad Hermann Louis, 1843-1926

Our English version of the first five stanzas was rendered by Dr. Theol. Conr. Hermann Louis Schuette, born in Hannover, 1843; professor of theology, Columbus, Ohio; and president of the Ohio Synod. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHUETTE, Conrad Hermann Louis (1843-1926), was born at Vorrel, Hanover, June 17, 1843. He came to America in 1854. He studied theology at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, and was ordained in 1865. He married Victoria M. Wirth of Columbus, Ohio, September 4, 1865. He became pastor of St. Mark’s Church, Delaware, Ohio, and in 1872 professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Capital University, and later professor of theology. For several years he was President of Capital University and also served as pastor of Grace Church in Columbus. During the years 1881-1894 he was pastor of Christ Church, Pleasant Ridge (now Bexley) Ohio. In 1894 he was elected President of The Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States and served in this capacity until 1924. During his term as president he collected more than $400,000 for educational work. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Capital University in 1898. He was one of the founders and molders of the policy and development of The National Lutheran Council, both during and after the World War. He served as its president 1923-1925. He was a frequent contributor to church papers of the Ohio Synod and published The Church Members Manual; Church, State, and School; Before the Altar; Exercises Unto Godliness. He died at Columbus, Ohio, August 11, 1926. He contributed five original hymns and several translations from the German to the Ohio Synod Hymnal of 1880. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 80, 248

 

Schulz, Johan Abraham Peter, 1747-1800

Johann Abraham Peter Schulz was born March 31, 1747, Lüneberg, Germany. Schulz attended the Lateinschulen in Lüneberg, and studied the organ. After moving to Berlin in 1768, he became teacher and accompanist to Polish princess Saphieha Woiwodin von Smolensky; they toured extensively through Europe. He later began writing opera, his first being Clarissa in 1785. The next year, he became musical director of the Berlin French theater. In 1786, he was appointed Hofkapellmeister in Rheinsburg. Two years later, he held the same post in Copenhagen. His works include: Die wahren Grundsätze zum Gebrauche der Harmonie (1773), Clarissa, oder Das unbekannte Dienstmädchen (1775), Gesänge am Clavier (1779), Lieder in Volklston (1782), Entwurf einer neuen und leichtverständlichen Musiktablatur (1786), Über den Choral und die ältere Literatur desselben. He died June 10, 1800, Schwedt an der Oder, Germany. [The Cyber Hymnal]

144, 166

 

Schumacher, Bernhard, 1886-1978

SCHUMACHER, Bernhard (1886- ), son of Herman Schumacher and Hulda, née Ziemer, was born on December 7, 1886, at Watertown, Wisconsin. He was educated at Northwestern College, Watertown, Wisconsin; Concordia Teachers’ College, Addison, Illinois; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, and Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Maryland. Degrees earned: B. A. and M. A. He married Helen Uttech. They have six children. After serving as Lutheran parochial school-teacher for a number of years, he became Superintendent of Schools for the Southern Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. He has published Eventide, sacred cantata, 1917; King Victorious, sacred cantata, 1924; Select Songs, songs for school and home (coauthor), 1922; Music Reader for Lutheran Schools, coauthor, 1933; Book of Accompaniments to Songs in the Music Reader for Lutheran Schools, 1933; Lutheran Organist, coauthor, 1927; and numerous other compositions for organ and chair. He was secretary of the Intersynodical Committee on Hymnology and Liturgics which prepared The Lutheran Hymnal and chairman of its Subcommittee on Tunes. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

180 (stanza 4)

 

Schütz, Johann Jacob, 1640-90

Johann Jacob Schütz, born 1640, in Frankfurt am Main, received his education at Tübingen, where he studied jurisprudence. He located as an attorney in Frankfurt am Main. He became famous for his ability as a lawyer and for his piety. He was an intimate friend of Ph. J. Spener, and it was chiefly at his suggestion that the latter began the famous meetings of the “Collegia Pietatis,” which laid the foundations for the pietistic movement. When Spener later left Frankfurt, Schütz came under the influence of the chiliast, Prof. Johann Wilhelm Petersen. Schütz had formerly shown tendencies toward separatism, and this learned, talented, and pious, but fanatical mystic gave these tendencies a new impetus, and after a while he withdrew from the Lutheran Church. He died in Frankfurt May 22, 1690. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCHÜTZ, Johann Jacob (1640-1690), was born September 7, 1640, at Frankfurt a. M. He studied at Tübingen and practiced law in his native city. He was a man of learning and piety. An intimate of P. J. Spener, he suggested the famous Collegia Pietatis. Schütz was a radical Pietist and ceased to attend the Lutheran services and to commune. He died at Frankfurt, May 22, 1690. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

435

 

Scottish Translations and Paraphrases, 1745

260

 

Scriven, Joseph, 1820-86

The famous singing evangelist, Ira D. Sankey, who conducted Gospel meetings together with D. L. Moody during the latter half of the 19th century, relates that the author of this hymn, Joseph Scriven, was born in Dublin, 1820; that he was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin; that he came to Canada at the age of 25 years; and that he died at Fort Hope, near Lake Ontario, 1886. A friend came to visit Scriven when the latter was ill, and noticed a copy of this hymn, in which he became very much interested. When he asked who the author was, the sick man told him that he had written it to comfort his mother who was weighed down by sorrow and adversity, but that he did not plan to show it to others. It was printed in a hymn collection of 1865; later it entered into Gospel Hymns, and has since been given a place in many modern hymnals. A special melody was written for this hymn by Charles C. Converse. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SCRIVEN, Joseph (1820-1886), was born at Dublin, Ireland, in 1820. He was graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. Then he moved to Canada in 1845, where he led a humble life and, though eccentric, was very charitable. He died by drowning at Port Hope, on Lake Ontario, October 10, 1886. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

385

 

Sedulius, Coelius, c. 450

Coelius Sedulius lived in the 5th century. It is thought that he was a native of Rome. All information concerning him otherwise has been derived from two letters written to Macedonius. From these it appears that he, in his early years, drew his inspiration from heathen literature, and that he only at a later period was converted to Christianity. He was a friend of Gallicanus and Perpetua and was at the height of his career in 450. During that year he refers to commentaries written by Jerome, who died in 420. He won praise and recognition from Cassiodorus and also from Gelasius, who was pope from 492 to 496. The works of Sedulius were compiled by Asterius, consul, 494. Among these may be mentioned: Carmen Paschale, a poem portraying the sacred story; Opus Paschale, giving the same in prose; Elegia, a poem; Veteris et Novi Testament) Collatio and the hymn, “A solis ortus cardine.”— Areval (1794) mentions sixteen manuscripts of the works of Sedulius, published at various intervals from the 7th to the 16th century. The best edition of his works is the one prepared by Dr. I. Huemer of Vienna, 1885. Julian remarks that this Sedulius must not be mistaken for the Sedulius of Ireland or Scotland, as is often the case. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SEDULIUS, Coelius (c. 450), was probably born in Rome. All the facts known about him come from two letters of his written to Macedonius. In early life he devoted himself, perhaps as a teacher of rhetoric, to heathen literature. Comparatively late in life he was converted to Christianity; or if he had been a Christian before, he now first began to take a serious view of his duties. From then on Sedulius devoted his talents as a priest to the service of Christ. His yearning was to attract the heathen by telling them of the wonders of the Gospel. This moved him to write. His works include Carmen Paschale, a poem on the whole Gospel-story dedicated to Macedonius. Sedulius longed to show the heathen that Christianity had more to offer them than heathenism. Opus Paschale is a prose rendering of the whole Gospel-story. Eleglia is a poem of 110 lines on the same subject as the Carmen. Sedulius also wrote Hymnus de Christo, a hymn of 23 four-line stanzas, of which each stanza begins with a letter of the alphabet in order. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

173, 267

 

Seelenharpf, Ansbach, 1664

497

 

Seiss, Joseph Augustus, 1823-1904

This version became the basis for our present English translation, which was rendered by Dr. Joseph Augustus Seiss, an American Lutheran pastor born in Maryland, 1823 (d. 1904). It was this hymn with its beautiful melody which inspired the poet B. S. Ingemann to write his famous Crusaders’ Hymn in the Danish, “Deilig er Jorden,” which ought to take the place of this hymn in our English hymnals. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SEISS, Joseph Augustus (1823-1904), was born March 18, 1823, at Graceham, Maryland. He was the son of a miner and was educated at Gettysburg College and Seminary and was licensed by the Lutheran Virginia Synod in 1842. After his ordination in 1848 he served various churches in Virginia and Maryland, became pastor of old St. John’s, Philadelphia, in the latter year, and in 1874 of the Church of the Holy Communion. Seiss served as president of both the Pennsylvania Ministerium and the General Council. He was a noted pulpit orator. He published among other works Ecclesia Lutherana, Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Lectures on the Gospels. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 54, 536, 545

 

Selnecker, Nikolaus, 1532-92

Dr. Nicolaus Selnecker was born December 5, 1532, in Hersbruck, near Nürnberg. Already at the age of 12, while a pupil in school, he was appointed chapel organist in the Castle of Nürnberg, where his “annual salary consisted of 8 Thaler and two wagon loads of fuel.” King Ferdinand, who often visited Nürnberg, thus learned to know the boy, and his genial nature as well as his musical ability made him at once a great favorite with the royal singers. In 1550 he was sent to Wittenberg to study. He became Melanchthon’s favorite pupil and was granted his master’s degree already in 1554. He delivered lectures at times for upwards of 200 students. Upon Melanchthon’s recommendation he was in 1557 appointed court preacher for the Elector August at Dresden. He also served as tutor for the young prince, the heir apparent, and had charge of the instruction of the chapel choristers of the court. At this court were a few Crypto-Calvinists who found their plans thwarted by Selnecker. Among their leaders may be mentioned the court physician, C. Peucer, Melanchthon’s son-in-law, and the privy-councillor, Krakow. These decided to overthrow Selnecker, and they were soon afforded an opportunity. One of the deacons, Hoffmann, in a sermon reprimanded the elector for his reckless hunting whereby his subjects had been defrauded and their property damaged, and when the preacher on this account was exiled from the city, Selnecker declared himself in full accord with him. Naturally he also incurred the displeasure of the elector, and, when Selnecker sought release from his office, this was “graciously granted him.” In March, 1565, he delivered a sermon based upon Psalm 141 and added a strong note of warning against false doctrine concerning the Lord’s Supper. Selnecker now became professor at the University of Jena. But while at Dresden he had incurred the enmity of the Crypto-Calvinists by defending the Lutheran faith and confession, at Jena he was suspected of being himself a Crypto-Calvinist, presumably on account of his peaceful bearing, and possibly because he was Melanchthon’s disciple. He was compelled to leave Jena, and the Elector August appointed him theological professor of Leipzig and preacher of the Church of St. Thomas. After serving here with great success for two years, Duke Julius of Brunswick requested him to organize the Church of Brunswick according to the polity of the Lutheran faith, and while serving as court preacher and bishop of Wolfenbüttel he speedily wrought improvements both in the schools and churches of Wolfenbüttel and other places. Then he again took up his office in Leipzig, where he, together with Chemnitz and others prepared the Formula of Concord, which was published in 1577 and gave rise to violent attacks by dissenters. Selnecker remained calm and patient and during this period employed his spare time in composing poetry and music. He devoted especial attention to the Motette Choir of the St. Thomas Church of Leipzig, the organization which many years later became famous under the leadership of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1586 the Elector August died and was succeeded by his son, Christian I, who was under Calvinistic influence, and Selnecker was compelled to retire from his offices in Leipzig. Later he was appointed superintendent of Hildesheim. During his stay there, the Elector Christian died suddenly, and the Calvinists lost their power, with the result that Selnecker was recalled to Leipzig. He accepted the call, but was now broken in health and died in Leipzig May 24, 1592.

Selnecker ranks with Helmbold and Ringwaldt as one of the most prominent hymn writers of his age. His hymns are permeated with the objective, churchly spirit of the Reformation, and the greater number of them reveal a deep and intense love for the Savior. Many of his hymns dwell too much upon the bitter doctrinal controversies and conflicts of his period. His Christliche Psalmen, Lieder und Kirchengesänge, 1587, contained 140 of his hymns. A few melodies harmonized in four parts are also accepted as his. (According to Skaar, J. Mearns, and others.) [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SELNECKER (Selneccer, Schellenecker), Nikolaus (1532-1592), son of Georg Selnecker, was born at Hersbruck on December 5, 1532. He attended school at Nürnberg, during which time he was organist at the chapel in the Kaiserburg there, and attracted the attention and interest of King Ferdinand and the royal singers. He attended the University of Wittenberg in 1550, graduating as M. A. in 1554. He became Melanchthon’s favorite pupil, and later, due to his influence, was appointed Court Preacher to the Elector August at Dresden. His other duties were those of a tutor to Prince Alexander and to supervise the education of the chapel boys in the royal chapel. He was ordained at Wittenberg in 1558. At the Saxon court during this time there were many Crypto-Calvinists who found their plans and preachings regarding consubstantiation thwarted by Selnecker’s presence there, and so they decided to overthrow him. He openly adhered to strict Lutheranism in regard to the Lord’s Supper. Their opportunity came when Selnecker took it upon himself to defend his friend Martin Hoffmann, who had been exiled for preaching against the Elector’s reckless hunting. Selnecker was himself released from office for incurring the displeasure of the Elector. He is said to have written the hymn “Hilf, Herr, mein Gott, in dieser Noth” on this occasion, but it is more probable that the hymn was written about Selnecker’s own troubles and sorrows, for his friend left in 1564, and the hymn is dated 1565. He left Dresden and took the office of professor at the University of Jena, which he held for three years. In spite of his previous stand against the Calvinists here, he was suspected of being one himself, possibly because he had been a favorite disciple of Melanchthon. Again he was compelled to leave. Now he became professor of theology at the University of Leipzig, pastor of St. Thomas Church, and Superintendent of Leipzig, having come again into the favor of the Elector. Here he worked quietly and successfully for twelve years, after which he was sent to Wolfenbüttel, where he served as court preacher and General Superintendent, making many improvements in schools and churches. He resumed his work in Leipzig in 1574, when again he became involved in bitter doctrinal disputes regarding the Lord’s Supper, and together with Chemnitz and Andreae he prepared the Formula of Concord, which was published in 1577. This was violently attacked and yet was successful largely because it was subscribed to by so many. It was written mainly to unite the Lutherans and to exclude the Romanists on the one hand, and the Calvinists on the other. Following the year 1579 he spent several quiet years at Leipzig, devoting much of his time to building up the Motet Choir of the St. Thomas Church there, which was later to come under the leadership of Johann Sebastian Bach. When the Elector died, his son, Christian I, who was under Calvinistic influence, came info power, and Selnecker was compelled to leave Leipzig. He became superintendent at Hildesheim; while he was there, Christian died, and the Calvinists lost power, Selnecker again being recalled to Leipzig. Chancellor Crell, who had influenced Christians Calvinistic leanings, was deposed, and Selnecker returned, too broken down in health to continue work, and he died May 24, 1592. He had lived during an age of marked doctrinal controversy, and through it all he will always be remembered as one of the great champions of pure Lutheran doctrine. We owe about 150 hymns to this man, and in addition he wrote some 175 theological and controversial works. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

248, 427, 511, 522, 573

 

Seltz, Martin L., 1909-67

 

tr. 97

 

Sermisy, Claude de, c. 1490-1562

261, 477

 

Service Book and Hymnal, 1958

tr. 120

 

Sheppard, Franklin Lawrence, 1852-1930

 

433

 

Shirley, Walter, 1725-86

Hon. Walter Shirley, grandson of the first Earl Ferrers, was born in 1725. Ordained in 1749, he was for some time rector of Loughrea, County of Galway, Ireland. He was a cousin of the Countess of Huntingdon, and assisted her in the selection of hymns for use in the chapels of her connection. He died April 7, 1786. (H. A. & M.) [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SHIRLEY, Walter (1725-1786), was the fourth son of the Hon. Laurence Shirley son of the first Earl Ferrers. Shirley met the Rev. Henry Venn at the home of the Lady Huntingdon, and the conversation and preaching of this cleric resulted in Shirley’s conversion. After he had done sporadic preaching in London as the opportunity presented itself, Shirley was ordained in 1749 and nine years later became Rector of Loughrea, Ireland. Shirley was the cousin of the Countess of Huntingdon and assisted her in the selection of hymns for use in the chapels of her connection. Early in 1760 Shirley was deeply grieved by the conduct of his eldest brother Laurence who was condemned and executed for the murder of his steward. In 1766 Shirley married Henrietta Maria Phillips. Shirley was involved in a controversy with the Wesleys and their preachers. A recantation of a declaration in respect to Calvinism was secured by Shirley from them after considerable discussion. He himself continued in the faithful discharge of his duties as a Gospel-preacher until he was worn down by a disease of a dropsical character. He died April 7, 1786. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

300

 

Sicilian melody, 1792

 

588

 

Silcher, Friedrich, 1789-1860

Friedrich Silcher was born June 27, 1789, Schnait im Remstal, Germany (near Stuttgart). Silcher’s father died when he was four years old, and his mother married Christian Heinrich Wegmann, the local schoolteacher. Wegmann was a faithful and loving stepfather, and Friedrich was his special darling. Silcher’s schooling ended at age 14, and he wanted to become a teacher. At that time, training involved a three year apprenticeship with a master schoolteacher (Schulmeister), so Silcher became an assistant teacher in Geradstetten, Remstal. His Schulmeister was not only a teacher, but also a renowned choirmaster, which influenced Silcher’s future development. In 1806, when his apprenticeship was finished, Silcher became assistant teacher in Fellbach, near Stuttgart. From 1809 on, he taught school in Ludwigsburg, where he met composers Carl Maria von Weber and Konradin Kreutzer. Both encouraged him to make music his profession. While in Ludwigsburg, Silcher also came into contact with the ideas of Swiss teacher Heinrich Pestalozzi. Pestalozzi advocated universal education, and using music and singing as an educational tool. In Switzerland, Hans Georg Nägeli tried to put Pestalozzi’s ideas into action: he founded numerous choral societies, mainly male (Männergesangverein). Nägeli’s ideas greatly influenced Silcher. They corresponded with and visited each other frequently. Silcher highly admired Nägeli, and his letters referred to him as “My dearest friend and patron.” (Once he wrote to Nägeli that Nägeli was a hero and knight of singing, and he, Silcher, was his squire.)

In 1815, Silcher moved to Stuttgart to become a musician and music teacher. One of his mentors was composer Konradin Kreutzer, director of the Würtemberg Court Chapel. Silcher lived with the family of the piano manufacturer Schiedmayer. In 1817, Silcher became Music Director at the University of Tübingen, where he stayed the rest of his life. In Tübingen, Silcher founded the Akademische Liedertafel (University Singing Society) in 1829, and was its president for over 30 years. In 1852, the University made him Doctor Philosophiae honoris causa, highest of his many honors.

To give newly formed choral societies something to sing, Silcher collected, composed and edited hundreds of folk songs, tunes, and hymns, and wrote settings and arrangements for choir and home singing. One of the best known, by Silcher himself, was “Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,” the “Loreley” song (words by Heinrich Heine, 1823). Silcher published the melody in 1838, but may have written it somewhat earlier.

In 1825 and 1828, Silcher edited Vierstimmige Hymnen und Choralgesänge (Hymns for Four Voices). In 1846, he edited a collection of 62 hymns for two or three voices (“arranged for school, church and home use”). He was also a pioneer in rediscovering sacred music by 16th and 17th century composers, such as Hassler, Palestrina, Praetorius, and Bach. He wrote a Geschichte des evangelischen Kirchengesangs (History of Protestant Church Singing). Died: August 26, 1860, Tübingen, Germany. Buried: Tübingen, Germany. In 1912, Silcher’s birthplace, the old school building in Schnait im Remstal, became a museum and memorial to him.

210

 

SILESIUS, Angelus. See Johann Scheffler. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

Sloan, John Morrison, 1835-after 1890

John Morrison Sloan (born in Scotland, 1835) was educated in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Erlangen. Sloan has translated a number of hymns from the German. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SLOAN, John Morrison (1835-?), was born at Stairaird, Ayrshire. He studied at the University of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and at Erlangen, receiving his M. A. from Edinburgh in 1859. Thereafter he served successively as collegiate minister of the Free Church, Dalkeith, 1864; minister of the South Free Church, Aberdeen, 1868; collegiate minister of Anderston Free Church, Glasgow, 1878; and minister of the Grange Free Church, Edinburgh, 1890. He contributed a number of original hymns and translations from the German to Anglican hymnals of the late nineteenth century. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 518

 

Smart, Henry Thomas, 1813-79

The melody (Bethany) was composed by Henry Thomas Smart (1813-1879), organist in London. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SMART, Henry Thomas (1813-1879), was born October 26, 1813, in London, the son of Henry Smart, violinist and piano manufacturer. Smart declined a commission in the Indian army, and studied law for four years. Law, however, did not appeal to him, and so he began to develop his natural musical aptitude. He was largely self-taught, but he did take some lessons from W. H. Kearns, a prominent London violinist. His first appointment was as organist at Blachburn, Lancashire. In 1838 he returned to London, where he served successively as organist at three prominent churches, being in active service until his death. As an executant and composer for the organ Smart had few equals. He developed great skill also in the planning and erection of organs, being responsible for the instruments built in some of the chief halls of the country. Smart suffered many years from an affliction of the eyes and became totally blind in 1865. However, he continued his composing by dictating all his work to his daughter. In this condition he even superintended the construction of the organ in St. Andrew’s Hall Glasgow, in every detail. He died July 6, 1879. He produced 250 secular works, but his writings for the Church are not extensive. He edited two noteworthy tune-books, namely, The Presbyterian Hymnal and the Chorale Book. Lightwood says that in this latter book Smart has done for the English hymn-tune what Bach did for the German chorale. Less than a month before he died, the British government granted Smart a pension of about £100 per year in acknowledgment of his services in the cause of music. Smart favored congregational singing, and the slow, dignified style of the old psalm-tunes rather than the quicker measures which his contemporaries were beginning to use. He wrote some very fine music; some parts of his complete “Service in F” have been considered worthy of Beethoven, and his hymn-tunes and anthems are also of a high order. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

114, 356, 385

 

Smeby, Oluf H., 1851-1929

SMEBY, Oluf Hanson (1851-1929), was born January 31, 1851, in Rock County, Wisconsin. He attended Luther College (A. B. 1871) and Concordia Seminary (C. T. 1874). He was pastor at Albert Lea, Minnesota, for forty-six years. He also served as teacher at the Luther Academy, Albert Lea; Secretary of the Iowa District of the Norwegian Synod; Vice-President of the same; member of the English Hymn-book Committee (Christian Hymns), and chairman of the English Hymn-book Committee (Lutheran Hymnary). Smeby translated a number of hymns from the Norwegian He died July 6, 1929. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 25, 26, 111, 475, 482, 563, 586

 

Sohren, Peter, c. 1630-c. 1692

SOHREN (Sohr, Sohrer), Peter (c. 1630 - c. 1692). There is little material available concerning Sohren’s birth and early schooling. We find him first in 1668 as “Bestalter Schul- und Rechenmeister der Christlichen Gemeine zum H. Leichnam in Königlicher Stadt Elbing in Preussen.” In that year he edited the Frankfurt edition of Praxis Pietatis Melica, with minor changes and additions of his own and about 220 melodies of his own composition. His second hymnal, Musikalischer Vorschmack appeared in 1683, when he was cantor and organist of the Elbing Congregation; it is said to contain between 240 and 250 of his melodies. Toward the end of the same year Sohren became organist and “Kollege” of the Evangelical Church and School in Dirschau, where he appears to have died about the year 1692. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

320

 

Solberg, C. K., 1908

 

tr. 13

 

Songs for Liturgy, 1971

setting: 434

 

Southwell, R., c. 1591-95

162

 

Spaeth, Harriett R. Krauth, 1845-1925

SPAETH, Harriett Reynolds Krauth (1845-1925). Dr. Sigmund Spaeth, noted son of Mrs. Spaeth, has kindly furnished us with the following data on his mother’s career: “Born, Baltimore, September 21, 1845. Married to Adolph Spaeth October 12 1880. Mother of five children, Charles (1881), Carola (1883), Sigmund (1885), Reynold (1886), Alan (1889). The first and last of these children died in infancy. My mother’s father was the Rev. Dr. Charles Porterfield Krauth, Vice-Provost of the University of Pennsylvania and a distinguished leader in the Lutheran Church. (See my father’s biography of Dr. Krauth). His father was Dr. Charles Philip Krauth, President of Gettysburg Theological Seminary. Three books by my mother are worth mentioning: The Church Book with Music, published by the General Council Publication. Board, 1893; Pictures from the Life of Hans Sachs; and the Life of Adolph Spaeth, General Council Publication House, 1916. Her full name was Harriett Reynolds Krauth Spaeth. She played the piano and organ and had an adequate contralto voice. with which she completed the family harmony (my father being a good tenor, my sister Carola an excellent soprano, and one or more of the boys always available as a bass). My mother died May 10, 1925, in Philadelphia.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 56, 117, 121, 144, 258

 

Spaiser, D., 24 Geystliche Lieder, Augsburg, 1609

517

 

Spanish, 17th century

510

 

Spee, Friedrich von, 1591-1635

 

97, 332

 

Spegel, Haquin, 1645-1714,

SPEGEL, Haquin (1645-1714), was bishop of Skara and later bishop of Linköping, before he was elevated to the archbishopric of Upsala in 1711. He was a great traveler, having visited Denmark, Germany, Holland, and England. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Haquin Spegel, Swedish archbishop, poet and linguist, born 14 (11?) June 1645 in the then Danish Ronneby, of an old priestly family of a small region. In 1662 he became a student in Lund, went abroad, first to Greifswald, then to Rostock, where he was influences by the faithful H. Müller, but his real mentor was the Wittenberger Calov, whose so-called Danziger-Catechism was the basis for Spegel’s own catechetical works. In Leipzig he heard Kromayer and Valentin Alberti “speak as of the oracles”, and in Copenhagen he got to know Wandal and Bang. Armed with strong personal faith and basic theological training he entered the church’s innovative works which awaited him at home. — After several teaching jobs and a stopover at the university in Uppsala and Lund in 1671 Spegel became court pastor for queen Hedvig Eleonora, in 1675 the king’s confessor, court preach, and field superintendent during the Scanian war, in 1679 superintendent in Ronneby and the same year superintendent on Gotland. In 1685 he became bishop in Skara, 1691 in Linköping, but still functioned in Skara in 1693, the same year was made Doctor of Theology, 1711 archbishop in Uppsala. He died 17 April 1714. In Gotland he contributed to a high degree to the island’s becoming Swedish. Here he bean his hymn-writing, which was to give him a prominent place in Swedish sacred poetry. To teach the island inhabitants Swedish, he wrote in “a little paraphrase rhythmical but orthodox” a good deal of the Old Testament Psalms (compare among others, 228, 229, 307, 325, in the Wallin hymnbook). That he was a natural poet, his sometimes dry, but compelling work of Arrebo’s Hexaemeron “Guds Werk och Hvila” (1685) already shows, a work which certainly unjustly called Spegel into question. Not an insignificant number of Spegel’s later hymns were republished in the Swedish hymnbook of 1695. They show an exceptional ability to give expression to a life of faith and the need for the Church, but are on the whole considered backwards as works of art. The main thing for Spegel is “to sin the Lord into the hearts, not the tickle the ears”. His hymn-writing is folk-like and sound, never “sweet”, but always “orthodox as a confessional writing”. The number of Spegel’s original hymns is difficult to ascertain; it is most important that we have among them treasures like #75, 298, and 430 (in the hymnbook of 1819). Spegel cannot be regards as of any single school of poets, but influences from Rist and Paul Gerhardt are strong, and Kingo’s “Aandelige Sjungekor” was for Spegel the high point of religious poetry. Of lesser poetical value is his didactic work “Thet öpna och tilslutna Paradiset”, 1705. — With the work on the Catechism, “The Book of Questions”, Spegel was very valuable, and Svebilius’ Catechism relies on his preliminary studies first and last. — In editing the new “Haandbog” Spegel was almost a participant; his works on church law from 1686 and the school ordinance of 1693 are certain less than accepted up to now. Certainly in every case Spegel like Laurelius staunchly held to church independence, even thought his great faithfulness to the king made him quite amenable. — He also worked on the new Bible translation (Kings, Matthew, Revelation, preparation of a list of parallel-passages, as well as a word list of “some Swedish words that seem vague”). His program was: “To make it closer to Luther’s version where it was clearer or more in agreement with the Hebrew original than ours”. — As a pedagogue he was not a pioneer, but two things he had an open mind for: the significance of good textbooks and of the school as a place for religious and moral development. — Among Spegel’s linguistic works can be named “Glossarium Suiogothicum”, 1712; otherwise he published several sermon collections (he was a capable and fearless preacher) and 1707–08 the first “Swedish Church History” in the mother tongue. — Spegel’s powerful bishopric left deep imprints in all areas, especially his work for raising the understanding of the people and at getting more capable pastors. [Kirkeleksikon for Norden]

 

329

 

Spengler, Lazarus, 1479-1536

SPENGLER, Lazarus (1479-1534), the ninth of twenty-one children, was born on March 13, 1479, at Nürnberg, where his father was a clerk of the Imperial Court of Justice. He entered the University of Leipzig in 1494, but when his father died in 1496, he returned to Nürnberg and obtained a position in the town clerks office. In 1507 Spengler became town clerk and in 1516 also Rathsherr. It is interesting to note that when Luther passed through Nürnberg on his way to Augsburg in 1518, Spengler made his acquaintance. He warmly espoused the Reformation doctrines and in 1519 published Schutzred favoring Luther. Spengler himself became one of the leaders in the Reformation work at Nürnberg. So it is not surprising to find his name on the list of those condemned by the Bull of Excommunication launched by Leo X on June 15, 1520, against Luther and his friends. But Nürnberg ignored the bulla and even sent Spengler as one of their representatives to the Diet of Worms, April, 1521. In 1525 Spengler went to Wittenberg to consult with Luther and Melanchthon as to turning the Benedictine Ägidienstift into an Evangelical Gymnasium, and this was opened as such by Melanchthon on May 23, 1526. Spengler was the prime mover to the Visitation of 1528 and upheld strict Lutheranism in the negotiations at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. He died at Nürnberg, September 7, 1534. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

430, 491

 

Speratus, Paul, 1484-1551

Paul Speratus was born December 13, 1489, in Rötlen, Württemberg. His preliminary studies were carried on at a German university. But his great desire for knowledge drew him on to Paris and Italy, where he studied philosophy and law. He received his doctor’s degree in both these branches of learning. Later he went to Vienna, where he gained the doctor’s degree in theology. About the year 1506 he began his activity as a pastor in the bishopric of Augsburg. He remained a Catholic priest for over ten years. In 1517 he even wrote a poem in honor of Luther’s famous opponent, Johann Eck. But very soon Luther’s writings and the reform movement in Wittenberg began to bear influence upon him. At first, however, he hoped, like Luther, that a reform could be carried through within the Church, so that celibacy and monastic vows among the clergy might be abolished. With courage and hope he took up the reform measures, when he became dean of Würtzburg, where both the bishop and several other leading men agreed with him. Speratus even went so far as to marry. This was several years previous to Luther’s marriage. But the district was placed under a new archbishop, who was a very strict Catholic. When he learned that Speratus had broken the law of celibacy, he deposed him from office in 1520. Speratus and his wife then left for Salzburg, where the archbishop was friendly to the Reformers. He was again given the office of dean and at once resumed his efforts at reform work. But Speratus was undaunted and outspoken, and when he reprimanded his bishop for penuriousness he had to give up his position. On the way to a new field of labor in Hungary he appeared in Vienna and agitated against monastic vows and celibacy. He gained many followers. But he was excommunicated and accused of heresy. His life was now in danger, hence he left Vienna secretly and set out for Wittenberg. He journeyed through the town of Iglau in Moravia, and there he found both the officials and the people very favorable towards the reform movement. He was elected their pastor and preached with great fervor concerning the grace of God in Christ. He gained an extensive following. But a complaint had been sent to the king, and Speratus was soon cast into prison. For the second time he was face to face with death. But these trials only had a ripening influence upon him. Until this time he had been undaunted and daring; from now on a quiet resignation settled upon his mind and actions. From his prison chamber he sent many fervent letters to his dear congregation in Iglau Here he also wrote this famous hymn. His imprisonment did not last so very long, however. The young emperor took another view of the matter and ordered the bishop to release him on condition that he should leave Moravia. Then he went at once to Wittenberg, 1523. Speratus was heartily received by Luther and his friends. It was just at the time when Luther was laboring to furnish the people with hymns in their mother tongue. In one of the very first hymn collections, the so-called Achtliederbuch, three of the hymns of Speratus were included, together with four by Luther and one hymn by an unknown writer. Speratus assisted Luther in many ways. Luther held him in high esteem because of his piety and great learning. When Duke Albrecht of Brandenburg sought Luther’s advice concerning the introduction of the Reformation in his state, Luther recommended Speratus for this work. The duke acted accordingly. Speratus became the first palace chaplain of Königsberg, 1524, and from 1530 bishop of Marienwerder, Pomerania. He died in 1551. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SPERATUS, Paul (1484-1551), born December 13, 1484, in Swabia, entered the University of Freiburg in 1503 and probably also studied at Paris and in Italy. In 1518 he was a preacher at Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria, and in the two following years preached at Würzburg and Salzburg, in both cases being forced to leave for expressing his evangelical views too openly. He received his D. D. from the University of Vienna in 1520 and was one of the first priests to marry, thereby breaking away from the Roman custom of enforced celibacy. He was condemned by the Theological Faculty at Vienna, imprisoned for a time by King Ludwig, and in 1523 came to Wittenberg, where he worked with Luther (q. v.) and assisted him in the preparation of the first Lutheran hymn-book, Etlich Christlich Lider. In 1524 he was appointed court preacher at Königsberg, and he seems to have had a great deal to do with drawing up the Liturgy and Canons, Kirchenordnung, for the Prussian Church, 1526. He died as Lutheran bishop of Pomerania while living at Marienwerder. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

227

 

Spiess, Johann Martin, 1715-72

SPIESS, Johann Martin (1715-1772), was born at Bern, was organist of St. Peter’s Church in Heidelberg, and professor of music in the gymnasium there. In 1745 he edited a book of chorales, Geistliche Liebes-Posaune, and in 1761 Geistliche Arien. The last years of his life were spent in Bern, where he was organist in 1766. He died in June, 1772. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

552

 

Spitta, Karl Johann Philipp, 1801-59

Carl Johann Philip Spitta was born August 1, 1801, in Hannover, where his father, Lebrecht Wilhelm Gottfried Spitta, worked as a bookkeeper and a teacher of French. He descended from a French family of Huguenots, which had settled in Brunswick. As the boy grew up he early exhibited a mild and pious spirit. He was only four years old when his father died. The mother, who was a Christian Jewess, now had to shoulder the responsibility of giving the boy an education. She was an intelligent woman and a good mother. She desired above all that her son Carl should enter the university. But he was very sickly from his eleventh until his fourteenth year. Hence, she gave up the plan of having him study and secured for him a position as an apprentice watchmaker. This work did not satisfy the aspirations of the ambitious and pious youth, but he did not let his feelings in the matter be known to his mother, so as not to grieve her. He sought comfort and encouragement in reading the Bible and other good books, and by writing poetry. In the meantime a younger brother died while occupied with studies preparing for the ministry. Carl confided his desires to a friend, who came to comfort him on the occasion of his brother’s death. It was with great joy that he accepted the offer of taking his brother’s place in the gymnasium in Hannover. In the fall of 1818 he took up his studies, and with such zeal and enthusiasm that he completed the course at the gymnasium by Easter, 1821, and was ready to enter the university of Göttingen. His teachers at the university were decidedly rationalistic in their views. He completed his theological studies in 1824. Until 1828 he served as teacher in Lüne, near Lüneburg. In 1828 he was ordained to the ministry and became assistant pastor of Sudwalde. He was appointed assistant garrison and penitentiary pastor of Hameln on the Weser, in 1830. In 1837 he received the permanent appointment to this office. But the military authorities, who had learned that Spitta was a pietist, refused to confirm the appointment. During the same year, therefore, he accepted a call sent to him from Wechold. On his birthday, August 1, 1847, he was installed as superintendent of Wittingen, Hannover; this was extended to include Peine in 1853; Burgdorf in 1859. On September 28, 1859, while working at his writing desk, he was stricken with heart failure and died in the course of about fifteen minutes.

Spitta began to write verses at the age of eight. During his stay at the university he wrote a great number of songs and poems and published a collection of folksongs for the laboring people. Among his companions at the university was Heinrich Heine, with whom he developed an intimate friendship. But when Heine, during a later visit in Lüne, where Spitta was engaged as teacher, began to scoff at the holy things in the presence of Spitta’s pupils, this friendship came to a sudden close. During the latter part of his university career a decided turn had come over his spiritual life. His work of writing hymns began in earnest in 1824. At that time he expressed himself as follows: “I will sing no more as I have sung. I dedicate my life, my song, my love, to the service of my Lord. His love shall be the theme of all my songs. He gave me the gift of song and of melody; I will give it all back to Him. It is the duty of every Christian singer to sing praises worthily to God for His grace unto us.” His most productive period as a hymn writer was during his stay in Lüne. During the still hours of the evening he would write his hymns and sing them to his harp or the piano. Later he drew his inspiration for many of his hymns from the glorious nature scenes in the beautiful valley of the Weser. He was also inspired by his companionship with intimate friends in Hameln. During his later years, his ministerial duties took up all his time. He wrote very few hymns after the year 1847.

In 1833 Pirna was published, the first edition of Psalter und Harfe. This work had the subtitle, Eine Sammlung Christlicher Lieder zur Haüslichen Erbauung. The second and enlarged edition, which appeared in Leipzig the following year, gained a unique recognition and distribution among all classes of people. Year after year new editions appeared. The 55th edition was issued in Bremen in 1889. This matchless success led to the publication of a new collection: Psalter und Harfe, zweite Sammlung, etc., Leipzig, 1843. The second edition of this collection was printed before the year was over, and its 42nd edition appeared in 1887. A third edition of older and later songs (hitherto unpublished) appeared after Spitta’s death. This was given the title: Spitta’s nachgelassene geistliche Lieder, Leipzig, 1861. These hymns have a more subjective and individualistic character. The fifth edition of these appeared in Bremen in 1883. In 1890 a new edition of Psalter und Harfe was printed in Gotha. This included both parts, both the old and later hymns, and a biography of Spitta. It is chiefly through his Psalter und Harfe that Spitta won the favor and love of the people. His hymns are noted for their noble and unaffected expression of thought. They are characterized by a childlike piety, deep Christian earnestness, and a fervent love for the Savior. They are clear, simple, and of suitable length. Spitta’s hymns have contributed in great measure towards awakening, renewing, enriching, and establishing the spiritual life of Germany and other countries, and have justly gained an extraordinary distribution among all classes of people.

In 1855 Spitta was created doctor of divinity by the university of Göttingen. He had a loving wife and seven children. Their home is pictured as a home of peace and song. During the evenings he would gather his family and their friends and sing his hymns and other songs, while the neighbors gathered near to enjoy the singing.

His son, Friedrich Spitta, born January 10, 1852, in Wittingen, Hannover, became a theologian and has since 1887 been professor of New Testament exegesis and practical theology at the university of Strassburg. He is especially known through his work on liturgics. He is the author of several treatises, among which may be mentioned, Luther and the Evangelical Service and Reform of the Evangelical Worship. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SPITTA, Karl Johann Philipp (1801-1859), was the greatest German hymnwriter of the 19th century. He was born August 1, 1801, in Hanover of parents in humble life, his father being a bookkeeper and teacher of French. The Spitta family was a Huguenot family that fled during the Roman Catholic persecutions in France. They changed their name from “de l’Hopital to the German equivalent Spital or Spittell, which was later modified into Spitta. His father died when Karl was but four. The mother was a Christian Jewess, and to her fostering care Karl wrote the finest hymn ever written on the Christian home, “O happy home where Thou art loved most dearly.” Spitta started to write verse when he was eight. Because of his frail health, Karl’s younger brother was sent to school to study for the ministry instead of Karl. His father having died, his mother apprenticed him to a watchmaker. He did not like watchmaking; yet he was faithful and efficient in his work. At this time he began the study of languages. The younger brother died by drowning in 1818, and so Karl was sent to school when he inadvertently made his true desire known to a close friend. He completed his studies at the University of Göttingen, where the professors were rationalistic, in 1824, then tutored in a private family for four years at Lüne, near Lüneburg, till he was ordained to the Lutheran ministry, as assistant pastor of Sudwalde, Hanover. Two years later Spitta received the appointment of chaplain to the prisoners and garrison of Hameln, Hanover, and would have succeeded as permanent chaplain there, had not the military authorities, alarmed by reports which described him as a Pietist and a mystic, refused to sanction the arrangement. On October 4, 1837, Spitta married Joanna Mary Magdalene Hotzen and in the same year took charge of the Lutheran Church of Wechold, near Hoya, Hanover, where he labored happily and successfully for ten years. Spitta’s home was one of peace and song. There were seven children. One son, Friedrich Spitta, born January 10, 1852, became a theologian and was appointed professor of New Testament Exegesis and Practical Theology at the University of Strassburg and is known through his works on liturgics. Another son, Johann August Philipp, was the author of the great biography of J. S. Bach. In 1847 Spitta received the appointment of Ecclesiastical Superintendent of Wittingen and in 1853 that of chief pastor of Peine. Spitta had just been preferred to the Church at Burgdorf when he was stricken with a gastric fever followed by cramp of the heart. He died at the age of 58, September 28,1859. At the university Spitta had written songs and secular poems, and he even published a number of them anonymously as a Sangbüchlein der Liebe für Handwerksleute. At the university Spitta also became fast friends with Heinrich Heine. That friendship came to an abrupt end, however, when Heine visited Spitta at Lüne and openly ridiculed holy things in front of Spitta’s pupils. Spitta himself passed through a deep spiritual experience during which he composed some of his finest hymns. In 1826 Spitta wrote to a friend, “In the manner in which I formerly sang, I sing no more. To the Lord I dedicate my life, my love, and likewise my song. He gave to me song and melody. I give it back to Him.” Spitta’s hymns aroused unparalleled enthusiasm. His Psalter und Harfe appeared in a second and larger edition after its first in 1833. By 1889 no less than 55 editions had been published. Another collection of hymns, which was first published in 1843, passed through 42 editions by 1887. A translation of Spitta’s hymns into English verse was published by Richard Massie in 1859, entitled Lyra Domestica. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

421, 531

 

Stainer, John, 1840-1901

John Stainer was born in 1840. While yet a young boy he sang in the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; became organist of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1859; organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1872-1888; professor of music at Oxford University, 1889-1899. He died in 1901. Dr. Stainer was a prominent church musician. He left a large number of works including cantatas, choir anthems, hymn tunes, and books on the theory of music. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

John Stainer, born 1840, was chorister in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, 1847-56. During the latter year he became organist at St. Michael’s College, Tenbury. He was organist of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1859 to 1872, and of St. Paul’s Cathedral from 1872 until 1888. During the years 1889-99 he was professor of Music at Oxford University. He died in 1901. Stainer was a very prominent organist, conductor, teacher of harmony, and composer of church music. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

STAINER, John (1840-1901), was born June 6, 1840, in London, and became a choir boy at St. Paul’s Cathedral at the age of seven and had several of his own compositions sung in the services during his nine years. there. In 1854 he became organist at St. Benet and St. Peter’s, Paul’s Wharf, and two years later was appointed first organist of St. Michael’s, Tenbury. In 1859 Stainer entered Christ Church, Oxford, and in the same year was appointed organist of Magdalen College and later of the University. He received his Mus. B. in 1859, B. A. in 1863, Mus. D. in 1865, and his M A. in 1866. In 1872 Stainer became organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral, succeeding Sir John Goss, a position which he held until 1888. He also served as Professor of the Organ, and later Principal of the National Training School for Music, organist to the Royal Choral Society, Government Inspector of Music in Training Schools, and finally as Professor of Music at Oxford University. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1888 and died at Verona, Italy, March 31, 1901. He wrote much church music, from oratorios to hymn-tunes, and helped to edit the first Church Hymnary. He published The Music of the Bible and A Treatise on Harmony. His cantata The Crucifixion is well known. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

197

 

Stallybrass, James Steven, 1783-1844

Stallybrass was born in Irkutsk, Siberia, where his father, who was a member of the London Missionary Society, was stationed. He resided for many years in Stoke-Newington, London, where he died, 1888. He translated a great number of hymns from the German. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

tr. 509

 

Stanford, Charles Villiers, 1852-1924

Charles Villiers Stanford was born September 30, 1852, Dublin, Ireland. Son of a lawyer, Stanford attended Cambridge in 1870; he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1874. He studied in Leipzig and Berlin, Germany from 1874-1876, and earned his master’s degree in 1877. He was organist at Trinity College 1873-1882, and and composed and conducted musical societies. In 1883, he became the first professor of composition and orchestra at the Royal College of Music. From 1885-1902, he conducted the London Bach Choir.. From 1887-1924, he taught at Cambridge University. From 1901-1910, he conducted the Leeds Festival. He received a knighthood in 1902. In addition to a body of church and chamber music, his works include: Piano Suite op. 2, 1875; Piano Toccata op. 3, 1875, Music for Tennyson’s Queen Mary in London, 1876; The Veiled Prophet of Khorossan, an opera, 1877; Shamus O’Brien, an opera; Irish Symphony op. 28, 1887, Pages from an Unwritten Diary, 1914; Musical Composition, 1911. He died March 29, 1924, London, England.

380

setting: 370

 

Starke, Stephen, b. 1955

 

46, 302

 

Steele, Anne, 1716-78

Anne Steele, born 1716, was the daughter of William Steele, a lumber merchant, who served without pay as Baptist minister of Broughton, Hampshire, England. Anne Steele was a talented writer and began writing poems at an early age. But she would not permit any of her poems to be published until 1757. On the 29th of November of that year her father entered the following in his diary: “Today Nanny sent part of her compositions to London to be printed. I entreat a gracious God, who enabled and stirred her up to such work; to direct it and bless it for the good of many … I pray God to make it useful, and keep her humble.’l Her Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, by Theodosia, were published in 1760. Miss Steele was injured in childhood and lived the rest of her life as an invalid. She also suffered much from nervousness, and confinement to her room, and was often helpless in her bed. Her lover was drowned while bathing, not long before the day fixed for their wedding. But she bore it all patiently and did not waver in her Christian trust. After her death a new edition of her Poems, together with a third volume, was published by Rev.Dr.Caleb Evans (Bristol, 1780), who wrote a preface to the work. In these three volumes there are 144 hymns, 34 versifications of Psalms, and 30 other poems. Sixty-two of her hymns were given place in the Bristol Baptist Collection of 1769. In this volume her hymns are distinguished by the letter “T” for “Theodosia.” After that period Miss Steele’s hymns have been found in all leading English hymnals. No other hymn writer of the Baptist Church has ever written hymns that rank with hers. Her hymns are in more extensive use among other denominations than those of any other Baptist writer. Her hymns are marked by simplicity of expression, deep piety, evangelical spirit, and they breathe an intense love for the Lord Jesus Christ. She prefers to sing of the suffering Savior, and many have criticised the somewhat melancholy and affectionate tone which is characteristic of many of her hymns. There is, indeed, not very much variety in her poetry. Anne Steele died in November, 1778. Among her last words upon her deathbed was, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

STEELE Anne (1716-1778), was born in Broughton, Hampshire. Her father, William Steele, was a timber merchant and also at the same time the pastor, without salary, of the Baptist Church in Broughton. In her childhood Miss Steele showed a taste for literature and went so far as to compose little poems, with which she often entertained her fathers visitors. From these crude poems of her childhood were developed some of Miss Steele’s most impressive, highly emotional hymns. It was not until 1760 that any of her hymns were published. Then she published two volumes of Poems on Subjects chiefly Devotional under the assumed name of Theadosia. She composed a great number of hymns, but the nature and style of her hymns are mostly the same owing to the particularly painful circumstances of her life. She suffered from great delicacy of health, enduring great sorrow and finally spending the greater part of her life as an invalid. She had in childhood received a hip injury, from which she never recovered. Later she suffered a great sorrow when her betrothed drowned on the day preceding their anticipated marriage. Composing under such sorrows and afflictions, Miss Steele added to English hymnody the plaintive and sentimental note. She gave us the hymn of introspection and intense devotion, expressed in a vivid and emotional way. The measure of our regard for her hymns today but faintly reflects the enthusiasm of the welcome her hymns received during her lifetime and the years immediately following her death. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

254

 

Stegmann, Josua, 1588-1632

Josva Stegmann, son of Ambrosius Stegmann, a German Lutheran minister, was born September 14, 1588, in Sülzfeld. He was educated at the University of Leipzig and served for a time as assistant teacher in the department of philosophy. In 1617 he was appointed pastor of Stadthagen, principal of the gymnasium in that city, and superintendent of the Schaumburg district. During the same year he was created doctor of theology by the University of Wittenberg. In 1621 he was appointed ordinary professor at the University of Rinteln, but had to flee in 1623 on account of the war. When he later returned he had to suffer a great deal on account of the demands which the Catholics made upon the institution and its property, which formerly had belonged to the Benedictine Order. Stegmann died 1632, in Rinteln. He wrote several Latin poems while a student at Leipzig. He composed a considerable number of hymns. Draw us to Thee in mind and heart. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

STEGMANN, Josua (1588-1632), was born at Sülzfeld, Germany, September 14, 1588, the son of Ambrosius Stegmann, a Lutheran pastor in that city. In 1608 he entered the University of Leipzig, and having received his M. A. in 1611, he was an adjunct of the philosophical faculty. In 1617 he was appointed superintendent of the district of Schaumburg, pastor at Stadthagen, and was also first professor of the Gymnasium there. On October 24, 1617, he received his D. D. from Wittenberg. When the Gymnasium at Stadthagen was changed into a university and transferred to Rinteln in 1621, he became a professor of theology there. During the Thirty Years War he had to leave Rinteln. He returned in 1625 and was appointed Ephorus of the Lutheran clergy of Hesse-Schaumburg. By the edict of Restitution, March 6, 1629, Stegmann was greatly harassed. Benedictine monks claimed to be rightful professors and demanded restoration of the old church land, especially the property formerly belonging to the nunnery of Rinteln, which had now been devoted to the payment of the stipends of the Lutheran professors. On July 13, 1632, soldiers were sent into his house demanding a refund of his salary. They continued to annoy him greatly, even calling him to an open disputation. All this worry and trouble shortened his life considerably, and he died August 3, 1632. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

579

 

Stephenson, Isabella Stephana, 1843-90

STEPHENSON (Stevenson), Isabella Stephana (1843-1890), was born at Cheltenham, the daughter of an army officer. Here she spent her entire life. She was a devoted member of the Church of England. For many years Miss Stephenson was an invalid. She wrote only one hymn. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

576

 

Steuerlein, Johann, 1546-1613, Himmlische Harpfe Davids

STUERLEIN, Johann (1546-1613), was born July 5, 1546, the son of Caspar Steuerlein, or Steurlein, the first Lutheran pastor of Schmalkalden. Steuerlein completed his study of law and c. 1580 was appointed town-clerk of Wasungen (between Schmalkalden and Meiningen). In 1589 he became secretary in the chancery at Meiningen to the Henneberg administration. Then he was a notary public and c. 1604 was mayor at Meiningen, where he died May 5, 1613. He was crowned as poet by the Emperor Rudolph II in recognition of his work of rhyming the Old and New Testaments in German. He was the author of a metrical version of Ecclestasticus published at Frankfurt a. M. in 1581. He was an excellent musician and published various works containing melodies and four-part settings by himself. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

464

 

Sthen, Hans Christenson, b. c. 1540

Hans Christensøn Sthen was one of the most gifted authors of the sixteenth century. Judging by the surname “Roskildensis,” he was born in Roskilde, Denmark. While he was yet young, his parents died, and it appears that Christopher Walkendorf took charge of him. He became rector of a school in Helsingør and later vicar in the same city. It is not known definitely at what time he made the journey to Germany, which he refers to in one of his writings. In 1581 he was called to Copenhagen to receive his degree of master of arts. In 1583 he left Helsingør, having received a call to become pastor at Malmø. In the year 1600 the burgomaster and aldermen of Malmø requested of Christian IV, that “Master Hans Christenson Sthen be given the parish of Tygelse and Klagstrup, since he on account of weakness and old age would find it difficult to carry on the work in Malmø.” The king, therefore, ordered that Sthen be called to the above parish. In the letter there is made mention also of his “infirmities attendant upon his old age,” which proves that Sthen, who served as rector as early as 1564, could not have been born as late as 1544, as the author Worm asserts, but rather ten years earlier, if not more. It appears, however, that this removal to the parish of Tygelse and Klagstrup was not accomplished. There is evidence that he was engaged in work at Malmø in 1603. It is not known when and where his death occurred.

Lyschander says that Sthen was exceptionally well versed in theological and secular sciences, a forceful preacher, a man of keen intellect, honored and respected among all who associated with him, an excellent orator and author, a diligent and successful translator. The citizens of Helsingør loved him dearly and on many occasions gave him gifts of money, because,” as they said, “he has prepared and caused to be printed prayer-books and other useful matter, since he came, to the glory of our congregation.” At another time we read, “—a loving gift in appreciation of his long service”; again, “—a fat steer for his wedding festival, 1567.”

In his published works he gives evidence of poetic talent. Among his writings may be mentioned Haandbog, indeholdende adskillige bønner og sange med nyttige livsregler udi rim befattet. His hymns include translations from the German, redactions of Danish folk-songs, “Kristelig forvendt” (Transferred to a Christian sphere), and original hymns. In point of spirit and expression his original hymns may be classed among spiritual folk-songs, and, in several cases, popular melodies were employed. For this reason they rank in directness and simplicity far above the productions of his contemporaries and of the period following him. As a means of gripping the heart and giving expression to the longing of pious souls they have as yet not been excelled. The first editions of Haandbogen and Vandrebogen have entirely disappeared, worn out by constant use. Sthen was the best hymn writer before the time of Kingo. We need only mention that he is the author of “Den lyse Dag forgangen er” and “Herre Jesu Krist, min Frelser Du est,” and everyone who has learned to cherish these spiritual poems will thank Sthen in his grave. (Dansk Historisk Tidsskrift.) Landstad’s Hymnbook has the following hymns by Sthen: the present hymn, No. 80 (L. H. 278); No. 119, “Et trofast Hjerte, Herre min”; No. 125, “Gud, efter dig mig længes”; No. 271, “Guds Naade jeg altid prise vil”; No. 541, “O Jesu, Livsens Herre”; No. 610, “Den lyse Dag forgangen en” [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

STHEN, Hans Christenson (16th century), was born in Roskilde, Denmark. He was brought up by Christopher Walkendorf and became rector of a school in Helsingö and later vicar in the same city. He seems to have traveled for a short time in Germany, and in 1581 he was called to Copenhagen to receive his degree of Master of Arts. He was called as pastor to Malmo in 1583 and in 1600 was offered the parish of Tyglese and Glogstrup, although it is doubtful whether he ever assumed his duties there. He is spoken of as a man well versed in theological and secular sciences, a forceful preacher, an excellent author, well loved by his parishioners and friends. He translated a number of hymns from the German, and his published works give evidence of poetic talent. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

258

 

Stobäus, Johann, 1580-1646

Johann Stobaeus was born July 6, 1580, in Graudenz, West Prussia. At an early age he was sent to Königsberg, where he studied music under Johann Eccard, who was “kapellmeister” in that city. He also attended the university; sang in the chapel chorus, and in 1602 became cantor of the church and the cathedral school. In 1626 he was appointed by the duke to the position of “kapellmeister” of Königsberg, where he labored until his death, in 1646. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

STOBÄUS, Johann (1580-1646), was born in Graudenz, West Prussia. He received his early musical training under Johann Eccard, the “Kapellmeister” in Königsberg. He also attended the university there, sang in the chapel chorus, and in 1602 became cantor of the church and the cathedral school. In 1626 he stepped into the position of his old teacher as Kapellmeister at Königsberg, where he served until his death, September 11, 1646. He published Cantiones Sacrae, 1624; Geistliche Lieder, 1634. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

207

 

Stolshagen, Kaspar, 1550-94, born 1550 in Bernau near Berlin, 1574-86 superintendent in Stendal, died 1594 as superintendent in Iglau in Mähren. [Kirkeleksikon for Norden]]

358

 

Stone, Samuel John, 1839-1900

Samuel John Stone, the son of William Stone, an Episcopalian minister, was born April 25, 1839, in Whitmore, Staffordshire. He received his education at The Carterhouse and Pembroke College, Oxford. Being ordained to the ministry in 1862, he was called as curate of Windsor, and in 1870 to a similar office at St. Paul’s, Haggerston, where he succeeded his father as vicar in 1874. In 1890-1900 he served in London as rector of All Hallows-on-the-Wall. Stone published Lyra Fidelium, 1866; The Knight of Intercession and other Poems, 1872; Hymns, 1886; Iona, 1898. He was a member of the committee which prepared Hymns Ancient and Modern. This famous work, in the latest edition, 1909, has nine of Stone’s hymns. Rev. S. J. Stone died in Charterhouse November 19, 1900. His poems and hymns, together with a memorial written by F. G. Ellerton, were published in London. His best hymns are graceful in form, Scriptural, of a strong faith, and clear. Three of his best hymns are found in The Lutheran Hymnary. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

STONE, Samuel John (1839-1900), was born in Whitmore, Staffordshire, or. April 25, 1839. He studied theology, and, after having charge of various churches, he succeeded his father at St. Paul’s in Haggerston. During his life he wrote four volumes of poetry: Lyra Fidelium, 1866; The Knight of Intercession and other poems, 1872; Sonnets of the Christian Year; Hymns, a collection of his original pieces. Samuel Stone died November 19, 1900. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

486

 

Strasbourg Psalter, 1545

312

 

Strassburg, 1525

430, 449

 

Strømme, Peer Olsen, 1856-1921

STRÖMME, Peer Olsen (1856-1921), was born September 15, 1856, at Winchester, Wisconsin. He attended Luther College (A. B. 1876) and Concordia Seminary (C. T. 1879). Strömme held pastorates at Mayville, North Dakota, Ada, Minnesota, and Nelson, Wisconsin. He also served as Superintendent of Schools of Norman County, Minnesota, teacher at St. Olaf College, and principal of Mount Horeb Academy, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. Besides editing various Norwegian newspapers and periodicals, Strömme edited the Minneapolis Times. He was the author of several books, mostly written in Norwegian, and translated Laache’s Book of Family Prayer. Strömme also wrote many poems and translated many hymns. He was a lecturer and globe-trotter. He died September 15, 1921. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 200, 593, 598

 

Struther, Jan, 1901-53

59

 

Sullivan, Arthur Seymour, 1842-1900

The melody is written by Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842-1900, a famous English composer who received his training in the Royal Academy and in Leipzig. Sullivan has written considerable church music, especially anthems and hymn tunes. He edited Church Hymns, 1874. His best known melodies are: “The lost chord” and “Onward, Christian soldiers.” [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SULLIVAN, Arthur Seymour (1842-1900), was born at London on May 13, 1842. The son of a musician, he received his early musical training as a choir boy at the Chapel Royal. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Conservatory of Leipzig. Sullivan was for a time organist of St. Michael’s, Chester Square, and of St. Peter’s, Onslow Gardens, and later held the positions of musical director of the Royal Aquarium, Principal of the National Training School for Music and Professor of Composition, Conductor of the Glasgow Choral Union (1875-1877), of Covent Garden Promenade Concerts (1878-1879), of the Leeds Festival in 1880, and of the Philharmonic Society (1885-1887). He was honored by the Legion of Honour in 1878 and was knighted in 1883. He wrote a number of operas, oratorios, and hymn-tunes, but is known chiefly for his operettas written in collaboration with W. S. Gilbert, the English humorist. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

474

 

Supplement to Kentucky Harmony, 1820

451

 

Svedberg, J., Then Swenska Psalmboken, 1695

 

200

 

Sveeggen, Peter A., 1881-1959

 

tr. 61

 

Swedish folk tune

543

 

Swedish, 19th century

174

 

Symphonia Sirenum Selectarum, Köln, 1695

357

 

Synesius of Cyrene, c. 375-430

SYNESIUS of Cyrene, born ca. 370, belonged to an ancient and renowned family. The family records dated back seventeen centuries. Synesius visited Alexandria, Constantinople, and Athens and came in touch with the Neo-Platonic philosophy. He soon gained widespread fame as a philosopher, orator, statesman, and patriot. When the Goths threatened his land and people, Synesius went to the court of Arcadius and sought to arouse the rulers to prepare to meet the coming danger. “The court indulged the zeal, applauded the eloquence, and neglected the advice of Synesius” (Gibbon).

When he was about forty years of age, he was converted to Christianity. In the year 410 he was chosen bishop of Ptolemais, much against his own will. He died in 430.

H. H. Räder, Ph. D., says that Synesius shows a mixture of Christian teaching and Neo-Platonic philosophy, but that he himself was conscious of the fact that he could not harmonize his philosophy with the doctrines of the Church. Many scholars have doubted his orthodoxy. Mosheim calls him a semi-Christian. Gibbon and Bingham believe that Synesius denied the resurrection of Christ. Chatfield says that the hymn, “Lord Jesus, think on me,” shows that he was not a semi-Christian, and that he did believe the resurrection of Christ. Julian agrees to the former, but holds that there is nothing in the hymn to show the latter. Many of the odes of Synesius have been translated into English. His life and poetry have of later years become the subject of increased interest and research. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

SYNESIUS, of Cyrene (c. 375-430), of noble descent, visited Alexandria, Constantinople, and Athens. At Alexandria he studied under the renowned Hypatia. After that he devoted himself to philosophy and the life of a country gentleman He became a statesman and a patriot, distinguished for his eloquence and philosophy. When the Goths threatened his country, Synesius went to the court of Arcadius and for three years tried to rouse it to the dangers that were imminent. But, as Gibbon says, “The court of Arcedius indulged the zeal, applauded the eloquence, and neglected the advice of Synesius.” Synesius even raised a corps of volunteers against the Libyan nomads. In 410 he was made Bishop of Ptolemais, much against his will, lest he see his “bows rusting” or “his hounds in idleness.” Synesius was no ascetic, was married, and loved the open-air life. He was imbued with Neo-Platonic philosophy, apparently conscious of the fact that he could not harmonize his philosophy with the doctrines of the Church. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

496

 

 

Tallis, Thomas, 1515-85

The melody is composed by Thomas Tallis, born probably 1520; admitted “a gentleman” of Chapel Royal before the death of Henry VIII (1547). He was organist of Chapel Royal in the reign of Elizabeth. He died November 23, 1585, and was buried in the parish church of Greenwich. Tallis may be regarded as the founder of the school of English church composers. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

TALLIS (Tallys), Thomas (c. 1510-1585), one of the greatest of English musicians, flourished about the middle of the sixteenth century. He was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary, and organist to Elizabeth and of Waltham Abbey till its dissolution in 1540. Tallis composed many anthems, which were published in Barnard’s Selected Church Musick, 1641. He died November 23, 1585, and was buried in the chancel of the Parish Church of Greenwich. His greatest composition is his motet Spem in alium non habui for forty voices eight choirs of five parts each. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

384, 488

 

Tate, Nahum, 1652-1715

Nahum Tate, son of Faithful Teate, D. D., was born in 1652, in Dublin, and received his education at Trinity College in his native city. He was graduated in 1672. He was created poet laureate in 1690. He died in London, August 12, 1715. Tate is best known for his Metrical Version of the Psalms of David, which he edited in conjunction with Dr. Nicholas Brady. This work, dedicated to William III, was authorized for use in the Episcopal Church, 1696. The Whole of the Psalms, Fitted to the Tunes used in the Churches, was published in 1698. This was followed by The Supplement in 1700. All these hymns are by Tate, and among them is found also the above mentioned Christmas hymn. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

TATE, Nahum (1652-1715), was the son of Faithful Teate, an Irish clergyman. He was educated at Trinity College. Under Dryden’s superintendence he wrote all but 200 lines of Absalom and Ahithophel. In 1692 he succeeded Shadwell as Poet Laureate. He also became historiographer-royal in 1702. He is said to have been a man of intemperate and improvident life, dying deeply in debt. Together with Nicholas Brady he prepared the New Version of the psalms, 1696. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

21, 147

 

Taylor, R. E., d. 1938

TAYLOR, R. E. (?-1938), Melbourne, Australia. He was a hospital missionary in Melbourne, a Congregationalist. He was an admirer of Luther and his teachings. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 513

 

Taylor, Thomas Rawson, 1807-35

Thomas Rawson Taylor, son of Thomas Taylor, a Congregational minister in Bradford, Yorkshire, was born in Ossett, near Wakefield, May 9, 1807. He was educated in the Free School, Bradford, and in Leaf Square Academy, Manchester. At the age of fifteen he was employed in a store and later in a printing office. Feeling the call of the Lord, he entered Airdale Independent College at the age of eighteen with the purpose of preparing himself for the ministry in the Congregational Church. In 1830 he became pastor of Howard Street Chapel, Sheffield, where he served for six months. This concluded his ministerial work. His health was failing, and he accepted a professorship in Airdale College, hut was soon compelled to resign and leave Sheffield. He died March 7, 1835. A volume, Memoirs and Select Remains, was published after his death by W. S. Matthews. In this volume are found some poems and hymns. Several of his hymns are in gen­eral use. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

TAYLOR, Thomas Rawson (1807-1835), the son of an English Congregational minister, was born May 9, 1807, at Ossett, near Wakefield. At fifteen he became an apprentice to a merchant, but after a few years he was stationed in a printer’s shop. The printer was a man of great piety. His character impressed young Taylor very much, and through his guidance the youth received his religious convictions. At the age of eighteen he left the printer’s shop with his master’s consent to study for the Congregational ministry at Airedale Independent College. He became pastor of Howard St. Chapel in Sheffield. After six months of service he was obliged to give up this work because of ill health. He then became classical tutor in his alma mater. But after a few years he died of consumption on March 7, 1835. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

474

 

Telemann, Georg Philipp, 1681-1767, Liederbuch, 1730

setting: 208

 

Teschner, Melchior, 1584-1635

The melody was composed by Melchior Teschner, cantor at Frauenstadt in Silesia, about 1611. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

TESCHNER, Melchior (c. 1615), was a Lutheran cantor at the church “zum Kripplein Christi” in Fraustadt, Silesia, at the beginning of the 17th century and was subsequently pastor of Oberprietschen, near Fraustadt. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

151, 277, 535

 

The European Magazine and Review, 1792

setting: 588

 

The Hymnal 1982

setting: 59

 

The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941

tr. 33, 131, 161, 167, 199, 313, 327, 440, 443, 477, 483, 494, 524, 532

 

 

The Lutheran Hymnary, 1913

tr. 525, 553, 580

 

The New Congregational Hymn Book, 1859

tr. 452

 

The New Oxford Book of Carols, 1993

tr. 112, 181

 

The Psalter Hymnal, 1927

setting: 186

 

Theodulph of Orleans, c. 770-821

THEODULPH of Orleans, St. (c. 821), was born in Cisalpine Gaul and in 781 was abbot of a monastery at Florence when he was invited to the court of Charlemagne, perhaps when the latter returned from Italy in that year. Then he was preferred by imperial favor to the Abbey of Fleury and about 793 to the bishopric of Orleans, succeeding Guitbert. He ruled with strictness and founded schools for the education of his people. When Charlemagne died in 814, Theodulph continued in favor with Charlemagne’s son and successor, Louis le Debonnaire, who employed him at court. Then Theodulph was sent to attend Pope Stephen on his journey from Rome to Rheims for the coronation of the Emperor. However, two years later St. Theodulph was suspected of complicity in the revolt of Bernard, King of Italy, against Louis Although he protested his innocence, he was deprived of his benefices and was imprisoned in the monastery of Angers, where, it is thought, he died. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

277

 

Thesaurus Musicus, London, 1744

602

 

Thomas à Kempis, 1380-1471

Thomas (Hammerken or Haemmerlein) a Kempis (from Kempen) was born in 1379 or 1380, at Kempen, fifteen miles northwest of Dusseldorf. His father was a tiller of the soil. His mother supervised a primary school for children. Thomas was first received at the brother-house of the Brethren of the Common Life, in Deventer. Later he moved to the Cloister of St. Agnes, near Zwolle. Of this he was made canon, and later second prior. Much of his time was spent in copying missals, breviaries, and other religious works. He wrote the Chronicle of the Monastery of Mt. St. Agnes, besides a number of tracts, hymns, and other devotional literature, all in the Latin language. His famous work, Imitatio Christi, is the most widely circulated book in the world next to the Bible itself. It has been translated into a large number of languages. There are several Danish-Norwegian editions. Thomas a Kempis died in 1471. His complete works have been published at various times in Germany, Holland, France, and England. G. M. Dreves, of München, has published his hymns together with historical notes of great interest. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

281

 

Thomas de Celano, 13th century sequence

Thomas of Celano lived during the first half of the thirteenth century. He was intimately associated with St. Francis of Assisi, the most remarkable personality of his time, whom he describes with an enthusiasm inspired by the deepest admiration and devotion. Among the prominent men of this century may be mentioned the theologians and hymn writers, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura, Pope Innocent III, and the founders of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders. The cultural development of the period really culminated in Dante’s Divine Comedy, which was begun during the last year of the 13th century.

Celano was located in the northern part of the kingdom of Naples. The city was burned, and the inhabitants were compelled to flee during the violent controversies between the pope and the emperor. Only the church remained intact among the ruins. This was one of the childhood memories of Thomas. It was during that period, possibly, that the young man found his way to St. Francis of Assisi, who was to exert such an influence upon his life and whose co-laborer and biographer he became. Thomas of Celano was later chosen to go to Germany to take charge of the work at the cloisters of Maintz, Worms, and Cologne, and later throughout the whole province.

It is not known under what circumstances or at what time “Dies irae” was written—some think about 1220. The authorship has been variously ascribed to several: Gregory the Great, Bernard of Clairvaux, Bonaventura, and others. Most authorities, however, are now agreed that Thomas of Celano is its author. The hymn was originally intended for use at the private devotions in the cloisters. During the latter part of the 13th century it was used in connection with the mass for the dead, and was regularly incorporated in the Catholic liturgy of the 14th century. The hymn was also used during the season of Lent. There is nothing in this hymn offensive to Lutheran Christians. It is truly Biblical throughout. It is the poor sinner seeking grace and mercy with God. It is Evangelical, emphasizing the free access to God’s throne of grace without the mediation of pope, church, or saint. It is recognized as the most sublime hymn of the Middle Ages. One hymnologist says: “The reason for its great power and influence over the minds of people which it has exerted also in literature and music may first of all be sought in the theme itself; its overwhelming grandeur; the holy sincerity and pathos of the author; and its lofty sentiment is further enhanced by the majestic meter with the triple rime.” Fr. von Meyer writes: “This strange poem, rather lacking in imagery, but profuse in feelings, strikes like a hammer with its mysterious triple rime upon the heart of man. I would not dwell under the same roof with the person who was so devoid of feelings that he could read and hear this hymn without fear and trembling.” [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

537

 

Thomissøn, Hans, 1532-73

Den Danske Psalme-Bog appeared in the fall of 1569, and during the same year it was by royal letter approved and ordered introduced into all the churches of the kingdom. It contained 268 hymns. About one-half of these were drawn from older Danish hymn books. Of the remaining hymns some were written down as they had been transmitted orally, others were reconstructed (Christelig forvendte), as, for instance, “Jeg vil mig Herren love.” A number of hymns were either translated or written by himself or by some of his contemporaries. Thomissøn produced nine original hymns, rewrote four “Papistic hymns,” and translated 35 from the Latin and the German. From Thomissøn’s hymnbook, Den Danske Psalme-Bog, 123 were included in Kingo’s; 29 in Guldberg’s; 74 in Landstad’s; and 80 in Hauge’s, besides the Litany. Brandt and Helveg in Den Danske Psalmedigtning give the following estimate: “When we give Thomissøn high rank as a hymn writer and point to him as the standard-bearer of the 16th century, it is not with the purpose of comparing him with any of the later major hymn poets. It must be kept in mind that he belonged to a period hardly a generation removed from that time when the native tongue of the common people had cast off the yoke of foreign bondage. Rhetoric and diction were not considered, if only the hymns were singable. Again, in that period, characterized by deep emotion and spiritual fervor, people felt no need of considering verse meter and rime, so long as the halting stanzas moved forward upon the wings of enthusiasm.” Later Danish hymn writers built upon the foundation laid by Thomissøn; accordingly, in giving our estimate of his work, we compare his hymns with contemporary productions. It is evident that Thomissøn was far in advance of his time in point of expression and ability to suit the word to the thought, which proves that he was more than an ordinary maker of rime or a slavish imitator of the German patterns. Ten editions of his hymn books were published. Hans Thomissøn died December 22, 1573, at the age of 41 years. He was laid to rest in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

268

 

Thompson, Alexander R., 1830-87

tr. 321

 

Thorson, Gerald, b. 1921

tr. 401

 

Threlfall, Jeanette, 1821-80

THRELFALL, Jeannette (1821-1880), was born March 24, 1821, in Blackburn Lancashire, and was the daughter of Henry Threlfall, a wine merchant. She was early left an orphan. In later years she met with a sad accident that lamed and mutilated her for life. A second accident rendered her a helpless invalid. Cheerfully and patiently Jeannette Threlfall bore her sufferings until her end, entirely forgetful of self. She radiated cheerfulness and courage to all around her. She composed her poems in idle moments and with great ease. Most of her poems and hymns appeared in the two books Woodsorrel, 1856, and Sunshine and Shadow, 1873. She died on November 30, 1880. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

279

 

Thring, Godfrey, 1823-1903

Godfrey Thring, a minister’s son, was born March 25, 1823, at Alford, Somerset, England. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and at Balliol College, Oxford (B. A., 1845). He was ordained to the ministry the following year and served as assistant in various places until 1858, when he became his father’s successor as pastor of Alford. He continued in this office till 1893, when he was made prebendary of Wells Cathedral. Thring died September, 1903. His publications include the following: Hymns Congregational and Others, 1866; Hymns and Verses, 1866; Hymns and Sacred Lyrics, 1874; ,q*** Church of England Hymn Book, 1880. Of this latter work a carefully revised edition was published in 1882. Thring’s hymns are extensively used in England and in America. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

THRING, Godfrey (1823-1903), born March 25, 1823, was the son of the Rev J. G D. Thring of Alford, Somerset, and was educated at Shrewsbury School and at Balliol College, Oxford (B. A. 1845). After taking holy orders he was Curate of Stratfield-Turgis, 1846-1850; of Strathlieldsaye, 1850-1853; and of other parishes until 1858, when he became rector of Alford-with-Hornblotton, Somerset. In 1876 Thring was preferred as prebend of East Harptree in Wells Cathedral. His works include the following: Hymns Congregational and Others, 1866; Hymns and Verses, 1866; Hymns and Sacred Lyrics, 1874; A Church of England Hymn-Book Adapted to the Daily Services throughout the Year, 1880; The Church of England Hymn-Book (a revised and much-improved edition of 1882). [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

55, 89, 237, 458, 588

 

Tisserand, Jean, d. 1494

366

 

Tollefson, Tim, b. 1969

setting: 108, 218, 317

 

Toplady, Augustus Montague, 1740-78

Augustus Montague Toplady, the son of Major Richard Toplady, was born in Farnham, Surrey, England, 1740. His father died soon after. His mother sent him to the Westminster School of London. Owing to circumstances his mother removed to Ireland, and Augustus continued his studies at Trinity College in Dublin. Toplady has related how he became a child of God during the stay in Ireland. He was at that time 16 years of age. It was indeed peculiar, he says, that he, who had for so long a time been under the influence of the Word of God in England, should thus be brought to God in that secluded district of Ireland, where a handful of people were gathered in a granary, and where the service was conducted by a man who could scarcely spell his own name. (Here, however, Toplady is mistaken, as the minister to whom he refers was none other than the famous Methodist preacher, James Morris).

When he was between 15 and 18 years of age he began to write poetry. His early poems were printed in Dublin in 1759. At the age of 22 he was ordained in Trinity Church. When he was to subscribe to the Church Articles, the Homilies, and the Liturgy, he signed his name five times to show his ardor and sincerity in taking the oath of ordination. He was first appointed curate of Blagdon. In 1768 he became vicar of Broadhambury. Here he received an annual salary of 80 pounds. “It was his life’s ambition,” says his biographer, Mr. Sedgwick, “to be able to deserve the most, but to be content with the least.” Toplady had a very weak constitution. He was a zealous worker who often employed the hours of the night for study. The symptoms of disease developed into tuberculosis of the lungs. In Broadhambury he published his Psalms and Hymns in 1776. Shortly afterwards he moved to London, where he became pastor of the French Calvinistic Church in Leicester Fields.

Toplady was an ardent Calvinist and was at times inconsiderate and unfair over against his opponents or people of other churches. His chief opponents were the Wesley brothers and the Methodists. His doctrinal controversy with John Wesley developed into personal attacks by both men, and neither of them came out with glory. It shows how the best and most sincere Christians may forget themselves in the heat of the battle and give the Old Adam free rule over their heart and mind. Toplady called Wesley “Pope John” and said that he wrote “a known, wilful, and palpable lie to the public.” John Wesley declared solemnly that he would not fight with chimney sweeps, “he is too dirty a writer for me to meddle with,” etc. The dust of many years has long since settled upon this controversy. Still the immortal hymn “Rock of Ages” must be considered as a part of the contribution to the controversy, which is indicated by the title given to it, namely, “A living and dying prayer for the holiest believer in the world,” thereby aiming at the Methodist doctrine of personal perfection. But the Methodists prize it very highly, and the hymn is to be found in all the leading Methodist hymnals.

A History of Hymns, published in connection with The Methodist Hymn Book, says: “Toplady lived a God-fearing and holy life; his hymns breathe a spirit of heavenly devotion and are filled with the joy of faith, praise, and prayer, and his departure from this life into the heavenly mansions was beautiful and triumphant.”

Toplady died August 11, 1778, 38 years of age. He called himself the happiest man in the world. As a child longs for father and mother and hopes to see them, he lay upon his deathbed, rejoicing in faith, waiting to be called home.’ “Sickness is no trial; pains are no misfortune; death is no separation; the heavens are clear; there are no clouds overhead. Come, Lord Jesus, come soon!” Shortly before his eyes were closed in death, he said: “It will not be long before God takes me, for no mortal man can live after the glories which God has manifested to my soul.” His famous hymn, “Rock of Ages,” has brought comfort to millions of many generations. It is the most favored and most extensively sung of all the hymns in the English language. He wrote many more hymns, several of which rank above “Rock of Ages” considered mainly from the literary and aesthetic viewpoint, but it seems that the grand inspiration of his life outshines all other hymns which he produced, the only things it gathers in its light is his name and the memory of his triumphant “going home to heaven.”

We append the first stanza of Gladstone’s Latin version.

Jesus, pro me perforatus , Condar infra tuum latus. Tu per lympham profeuentem, Tu per sanguinem tepentem In peccata me redunda Tolle culpam, sordes munda. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

TOPLADY, Augustus Montague (1740-1778), was born November 4, 1740, at Farnham, England. He studied at Westminster School, London (where the other great hymn-writers George Herbert, Charles Wesley, William Cowper, and John Dryden also attended), and also at Trinity College, Dublin. By his own description his conversion took place, soon after his graduation, in a barn where a lay preacher of the Wesleyan Methodists was holding forth. Ordained to the ministry of the Church of England in 1762, he was vicar of Broadhembury, Devonshire, for a while and in 1775 accepted the call as preacher in a chapel of the French Calvinists in Leicester Fields, London. Of a rather frail constitution, his driving fervor and zeal led him to an untimely death at the age of 38. Considered a very powerful preacher, he drew great crowds to his services, and, as an ardent Calvinist, was one of John Wesley’s chief opponents in the English Arminian controversy. When a friend tried to encourage him shortly before his death he replied, “No, no, I shall die. For no mortal could endure such manifestations of Gods glory as I have, and live.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

286

tr. 20

 

Trabert, George Henry, 1843-1931

TRABERT, George Henry (1843-1931), was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, October 16, 1843. He graduated at Gettysburg College in 1867 and at the Philadelphia Lutheran Seminary in 1870. He was ordained in 1870 by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania. His first congregation was Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1870-1873. Then he served Elizabethtown and Mount Joy in the same county until 1877. His next charge was Salem Lutheran Church in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where he remained until January, 1883. On January 1, 1883, he began English work among Lutherans in the Twin Cities. As he was supported by St. John’s Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, the congregation which he established in Minneapolis was called St. John’s Church. It was organized June 8, 1883, with seven members. On July 24 of that year he organized also Memorial Church in St. Paul, and these two congregations became the cradle of the Synod of the Northwest. Trabert received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Bethany College at Lindsborg, Kansas, in 1895. His pastorate at St. John’s he resigned in 1892 when he took up work at Warren, Pennsylvania. Four years later he removed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, but remained there only about a year. He took up work at Salem Church in Minneapolis in 1897 and continued there until 1920, when he retired. He organized the Inner Mission Society of Minneapolis, and Trabert Hall is a memorial to him. He wrote several books, among them English Lutheranism in the Northwest and Church History. He died at Minneapolis, September 16, 1931, and was buried at Allentown, Pennsylvania, having served the Church as a minister for 50 years. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 342

 

Trente quatre pseaumes de David, Geneva, 1551

 

501

 

Trier, c. 1500

 

121

121

 

Tucker, Francis Bland, 1895-1984

 

187, 312

tr. 183

 

Vajda, Jaroslav J., b. 1919

 

tr. 204

50

 

Vaughan Williams, R., 1872-1958

WILLIAMS, Ralph Vaughan (1872- ), was born October 12, 1872, at Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, England. He spent his early days at Charterhouse, studied music at the Royal College of Music, London, and received his Bachelor of Music degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. He further advanced himself with musical studies in Paris and Berlin. He held positions as organist of South Lambeth Church, 1896-1899, Extension Lecturer for Oxford University, and Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music. He was a private in the army at the beginning of the First World War and later advanced to a commission in the artillery. He seams to have been chiefly interested in choirs, and his choral compositions have been classed among the most beautiful produced in the twentieth century. Williams was musical editor of The English Hymnal, 1906, and coeditor with Martin Shaw and Percy Dearmer of Songs of Praise, 1925. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

setting: 76, 98, 119, 183, 228, 298

9, 53, 398, 554

 

Vetter, Harold R., 1994

 

tr. 129

 

Vischer, Christoph, 1520-97

Christoph Vischer (Fischer) was born 1520 in Joachimsthal, Bohemia. He entered the University of Wittenberg in 1540 and was ordained to the ministry in 1544. He was appointed to a pastorate near Wittenberg and later became pastor and superintendent of Schmalkalden, and, in 1571, he was tendered a similar position in Meiningen. Three years later he was appointed court preacher and superintendent of Celle; in 1577 he was made pastor of the Church of St. Martin in Halberstadt. In 1583 he again came to Celle, this time as general superintendent, or bishop, of Lüneburg. Vischer died in Celle, 1597. This is the only hymn which we have from his hand. He composed a number of other works [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

FISCHER (Vischer), Christoph (1520-1597), was born in 1520 at Joachimsthal; studied theology at Wittenberg, 15401544; was ordained, 1544, at Wittenberg to serve as pastor at the nearby Jüterbogk; became cathedral preacher and superintendent at Smalcald, 1522; pastor and general superintendent at Meiningen, 1571; court preacher and assistant superintendent at Celle, 1574; chief pastor at St. Martins Church in Halberstadt, 1577; returned to Celle as general superintendent of Lüneburg in 1583; died at Celle in October, 1597. He was a voluminous writer. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

275

 

Voelker, Robert E., 1991

tr. 246

 

Voelker, Sandra J., 1991

setting: 246

 

Vollkommenes Choral-Buch, Hamburg, 1715

379

 

Voss, Arthur Paul, 1899-1955

VOSS, Arthur Paul (1899-1955), was born May 19, 1899, at Bay City, Michigan, son of Christian J. Voss and Augusta, née Röcker. He was educated at the Lutheran High School, Milwaukee; Concordia College, Milwaukee; the Theological Seminary of the Joint Synod of Wisconsin and Other States, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He was ordained to the Lutheran ministry in 1921 and became pastor of St. James’s Ev. Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, and professor at Thiensville in 1954. He married Louise Ebert. He was associate editor of the Northwestern Lutheran, Vice-President of the Southeastern Wisconsin District of the Ev. Lutheran Joint Synod of Wisconsin and Other States since 1936, and member of the Board of Control, Northwestern Publishing House, Milwaukee, since 1925. He was a member of the Intersynodical Committee on Hymnology and Liturgics which prepared The Lutheran Hymnal. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 207

 

Vulpius, Melchior, 1560-1615

The melody by Melchior Vulpius, 1560-1615, a German church musician, appeared first in Ein schön geistlich Gesangbuch, Jena, 1609. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

VULPIUS, Melchior (c. 1560-1615), was born perhaps at Wasungen, in Thuringia, 1560, About 1600 he became precentor at Weimar and died there in 1615. He published Cantiones sacrae (1602 and 1604); Kirchengesänge und geistliche Lieder Dr. Luthers (1604); Canticum beatissimae (1605); Ein schön geistlich Gesangbuch (1609). The Cantional, Gotha, was published after his death in 1646. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

287, 366, 416, 435, 473, 579

 

Wade, John Francis, c. 1711-86

The English text dates as far back as 1751 and is found in a manuscript bearing the title: Cantus Diversi pro Dominicis et festis per annum, copied by Rev. John Francis Wade. In 1760 the hymn was included in a church book, and in 1782 it was published in An Essay on the Church Plain Chant, London.—In the Portuguese chapel of London, where Vincent Novello was the organist, “Adeste fideles” was sung as early as 1797, and Novello mentions John Reading, organist of Winchester College, as the composer of the melody. Novello arranged the melody for church choirs, and the hymn with this stately setting became very popular in a short time. It has been established, however, that Reading did not compose the melody. This has also been called the Portuguese Hymn, and it has been claimed that a Portuguese musician, Marcas Portugal, wrote the tune. This has never been proved. In England the melody has been called “Adeste Fideles” (or Torbay), and it has always been associated with this hymn. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

133

133

 

Wagner, J. G., Sammlung … Melodien, 1742

 

47, 329

 

Walker, David Charles, b. 1938

442

 

Walker, William, Southern Harmony, 1835

218, 306, 431

 

Walther, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm, 1811-87

WALTHER, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm (1811-1887), was born at Langenchursdorf, Saxony, on October 25, 1811. He has been called the most commanding figure in the Lutheran Church of America during the nineteenth century. Of a long line of Lutheran ministers, Walther received his early schooling in his home village and in Hohenstein and was graduated from the Gymnasium at Schneeberg in 1829. He studied theology at Leipzig and managed to avoid its rationalistic influence only by close companionship with men such as Kuehn, Barthel, and Stephan, all true students and ministers of the doctrine of the grace of God in Christ. He was graduated in 1833, became a private tutor for a time, and was ordained to the holy ministry at Braeunsdorf, Saxony, in 1837. Unable to tolerate the rationalistic attitude of the Church in Saxony, he emigrated to America with Stephan’s confessional Lutherans and arrived in St. Louis in February, 1839. There he served the pastorates at Dresden and Johannisberg in Perry County, helped build the log-cabin college at Altenburg, and in time took Stephan’s place as leader of the colony. In 1841 he succeeded his older brother as pastor of Old Trinity in St. Louis, and, as one of the founders and leaders of the Saxon Immigration, published the Lutheraner in 1844, helped to organize and became the first President of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States in 1847, was elected professor of theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, edited Lehre und Wehre, 1855, and in his preaching and writings gave direction to American Lutheranism, which is still being felt today. He received his D. D. from Capital University in 1878. He wrote a great deal on Lutheran doctrine and practice. and his sermons are still considered some of the most powerful ever presented in America. An accomplished master of the piano and organ, he wrote a number of hymns and hymn-tunes. American Lutheranism is forever indebted to him for transplanting the pure teachings of the Bible as set forth by Luther from the Old World to the New in both space and time. He died May 7, 1887. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

350.

350.

 

Walther, Johann, 1496-1570

WALTHER, Johann (1496-1570), was born in a village near Cola (Kahla?) in Thuringia. In 1524 he was at Torgau as bassist at the Court of Friedrich the Wise, Elector of Saxony. The Elector Johann of Saxony made him choirmaster in 1526. In 1534 Walther was appointed cantor to the school at Torgau. On the accession of the Elector Moritz of Saxony, in 1548, he went with him to Dresden as his Kapellmeister. Walther was pensioned by a decree of August 7, 1554, and soon after returned to Torgau, still retaining the title of “Sengermeister”. He died at Torgau in the spring of 1570. Johann Walther was more distinguished as a musician than as a hymn-writer. In 1524 he spent three weeks in Luther’s home at Wittenberg, helping to adapt the old church music to the Lutheran services and harmonizing the tunes in five parts for the Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn, published at Wittenberg in 1524. Walther was present in the Stadtkirche at Wittenberg in 1525, when, on October 29, the service of the Holy Communion, as arranged by Luther and himself, was first used in German. Most of Walther’s hymns appeared in his Das christlich Kinderlied D. Martini Lutheri, Wittenberg 1566. Walther was the first Lutheran hymn-writer to sing of the glories of eternal life. Bishop Bang says of him, “On the whole it may be said that Walther together with Luther laid the foundation for evangelical church song. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

100

18, 90, 165

 

Walton, J. G., 1821-1905

 

setting: 395

 

Walworth, Clarence Alphonsus, 1820-1900

WALWORTH, Clarence Alphonsus (1820-1900), was a graduate of Union College 1838, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. He had studied for the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church but was finally ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. He became Rector of St. Mary’s, Albany, in 1864, and was one of the founders of the Order of Paulists in the United States. His paraphrases and translations of hymns have appeared in several hymnals. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 43

 

Warner, Anna Bartlett, 1820-1915, st. 1

Anna Warner was born about 1822 in New York City. She published Hymns of the Church Militant, 1858, and Wayfaring Hymns, Original and Translated, 1869. Several of her hymns are in universal use. The melody (Visio Domini) was composed by J. B. Dykes. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

179

 

Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748

Isaac Watts was the oldest son of the teacher Isaac Watts. His father was a zealous Non-Conformist (dissenter), who was imprisoned twice on account of his religious convictions. Both these imprisonments took place during the early years of the son Isaac. The family home was at Southampton, where Isaac’s father conducted a flourishing boarding school. Here Isaac was born July 17, 1674. The boy was exceptionally talented. He received instruction among other studies also in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and he made great progress in these branches even during his childhood years. His poetic talents also developed early. His brilliancy drew the attention of leading men in the city, and several friends offered to pay for his education at some university, provided he would become a minister in the Episcopal Church. Watts did not accept this offer, but in 1790 he went to the Nonconformist Academy at Stoke-Newington, conducted by Thomas Rowe, pastor of the free congregation. Watts was formally accepted as a member. At 20 years of age he left the academy and spent the next two years at his home in Southampton. Here he took up his life’s task of furnishing the congregation with new, good, Scriptural hymns. While here he composed the greater number of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs. They were first sung from the manuscripts in the Southampton church. His first hymn was, “Behold the glories of the Lamb,” based on Rev. 5: 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12, of which the first stanza is as follows:

Behold the glories of the Lamb,

Amidst His Father’s throne.

Prepare new honors for His name,

And songs before unknown.

The six years following he spent in Stoke-Newington in the home of the influential Puritan, Sir John Hartopp, whose son was given private instruction by Watts. It was through the intense studies carried on especially during these years that he gained the profound theological and philosophical knowledge which marks so many of his later works. But during these years he also ruined his health beyond recovery.

Watts preached his first sermon at the age of 24, in Mark Lane, London, and during the next three years he preached on many occasions. In 1702 he was ordained to the ministry and was placed in charge of the large and noted free congregation of Mark Lane, where his predecessors in the office had been among the most prominent and influential clergymen. The membership of this congregation included many of the leading men and women. But his health failed so that already the following year the congregation had to supply an assistant pastor. After a protracted illness he was invited into the home of Sir Thomas Abney, where he remained the rest of his life, his last 13 years at Stoke-Newington. He was never married. In 1728 he was given the degree of doctor of theology by the University of Edinburgh. His health continued on the decline until November 25, 1748, when he through a quiet and peaceful death was released from his sufferings. He was buried in the Bunhill Fields, and a monument was raised in his honor in Westminster Abbey.

Isaac Watts was the first prominent English hymn writer. He has justly been called the father of English hymnody. Through him congregational singing was raised to its proper place in the public worship, and was imbued with new power and life. Julian mentions 454 original hymns and versions of the Psalms of David which are in common use in English speaking countries. Many have been translated into other languages. Besides these, many “centos” or new hymns have appeared through the selection and partial revision of certain stanzas from the original hymns. Many have severely criticized his hymns and especially his versifications of the Psalms of David as lacking in poetic spirit; that the traditional four-line stanzas have a monotonous effect, and here and there built up with vulgar and tasteless expressions. It may be true that Watts, in many of his hymn paraphrases and original hymns, does not reach greater heights than some of his predecessors. He says himself that he has borrowed ideas and expressions from poets like Denham, Milbourne, Tate, and Brady.

Bombastic expressions were in harmony with the taste of the times. It is not surprising, therefore, that even a poet of the order of Watts should occasionally be drawn into the traditional style of his age. All in all he ranks high above all his predecessors and contemporaries, and no one has had greater influence upon the development of English hymnody. In his hymns there is great wealth of imagery, beauty of expression, lyric euphony and rhythm. They are characterized by deep piety and faith, childlike joy and exultation in praise. They are Biblical and churchly. His versions of the Psalms of David are more on the order of paraphrases or free renderings with the Psalms of David as texts, than metrical versifications or translations. They are eminently evangelical, they place the poetry of the Old Covenant in the light of the Gospel by continuously interweaving parallel passages from the New Testament. No other English hymn writer has been given so much space in The Lutheran Hymnary or in other English-Lutheran hymnals, as Isaac Watts. In number they approach Luther’s and Gerhardt’s. The Lutheran Hymnary contains 18 of his most cherished hymns. They are all of the type of the four-line stanza and belong to hismost beautiful hymns. Dr. Watts’ great learning, his piety, mild disposition, and warmheartedness have gained for him the name of the “Philip Melanchthon of England.” His most famous hymn is, “When I survey the wondrous cross” (L. H. 306).

Watts’ collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, was published in 1707-1709, although written earlier (see above); Divine and Moral Songs appeared in 1715 and Psalms in 1719. A few hymns are also included in the collection of poems, Horae Lyricae, 1706-1709. Other hymns are found among his printed sermons, 1721-1724. His Catechism, Bible History, and The World to Come, gained large distribution. His book on logic was used as a text book in Oxford University for many years. Among his other works may be mentioned Speculations on the Human Nature of the Logos, and The Improvement of the Mind. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WATTS, Isaac (1674-1748), was born July 17, 1674, the son of a Non-conformist minister, who in his later life kept a flourishing boarding-school at Southampton where Isaac, the eldest of nine children was born. Mr. Pinhorn, rector of All Saints and headmaster of the Grammar School in Southampton, taught him Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Watts refused the offer of a physician of Southampton of an education at one of the universities in preparation for eventual ordination into the Church of England and instead entered a Non-conformist academy at Stoke Newington, which was under the care of Mr. Thomas Rowe, the pastor of the Independent congregation at Girdlers’ Hall. Watts became a member of this congregation in 1693. When he was twenty, Watts left the academy and spent the next two years at home writing the balk of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, which were published 1707 to 1709. These were occasioned by Watts’s displeasure of the wretched paraphrases of the Psalms then in use in the Reformed Churches. He was only eighteen years old when he voiced his displeasure publicly and was told by a church officer: “Give us something better, young man.” It was not intended to be an invitation, but Watts accepted it as such and wrote his first hymn, of which the opening stanza reads: [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

“Behold the glories of the Lamb [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Amidst His Father’s throne, [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Prepare new honors for His name [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

And songs before unknown.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Hymns and Spiritual Songs was the first real English hymn-book. These hymns were sung from manuscript in the Southampton Chapel. Watts spent the next six years at Stoke Newington as tutor in the family of Sir John Hartopp. These years were ones of intense study, which resulted in the lifelong enfeeblement of his constitution. In 1702 Watts was ordained pastor of the eminent Independent congregation in Mark Lane. Because of his failing health he was given an assistant, Mr. Samuel Price, who was appointed in 1703. In 1712 a fever attacked Watts which left him a confirmed invalid. Price was now made copastor of the congregation, which had moved to a new chapel in Bury Street. During one of his periods of physical distress, Watts became a guest for a week in the home of Sir Thomas Abney. His health did not improve, and Watts so endeared himself to the Abney family that they refused to let him go. There he remained for the rest of his life - 36 years! In 1728 the University of Edinburgh bestowed an unsolicited D. D. upon him. Isaac Watts is the real founder of English Hymnody and is rightly called the “Father of English Hymnody.” He was called the Melanchthon of his day because of his learning, piety, gentleness, and largeness of heart. He was a preacher and a poet, a student of theology and philosophy. His works include: Speculations on the Human Nature of the Logos (for which he is charged with Arianism); The Improvement of the Mind, 1741, Logic (which was a valued text at Oxford during his day); The Divine and Moral Songs, 1715, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707 to 1709; Horae Lyricae, 1706 to 1709; and Psalms of David, 1719. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

Although Watts never married, he deeply loved children and is the author of some of the most famous nursery rhymes in the English language. He is buried in Bunhill Fields, and a monument is erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

In his introduction to Hymns and Spiritual Songs he has given his theory and position regarding psalmody and what should constitute Christian song. He held that psalmody was the most “unhappily managed” of all current religious solemnities and stated: “I have been long convinc’d, that one great Occasion of this Evil arises from the Matter and Words to which we confine all our Songs. Some of ‘em are almost opposite to the Spirit of the Gospel: Many of them foreign to the State of the New Testament, and widely different from the present Circumstances of Christians. Hence it comes to pass that when spiritual Affections are excited within us, and our souls are raised a little above this earth in the beginning of a Psalm, we are check’d on a sudden in our Ascent toward Heaven by some Expressions that are more suited to the Days of Carnal Ordinances, and fit only to be sung in the Worldly Sanctuary. When we are just entering into an Evangelic Frame by some of the Glories of the Gospel presented in the brightest Figures of Judaism, yet the very next line perhaps which the Clerk parcels out unto us, hath something in it so extremely Jewish and cloudy, that darkens our Sight of God the Saviour: Thus by keeping too close to David in the House of God, the Vail of Moses is thrown over our Hearts. While we are kindling into divine Love by the Meditations of the lovingkindness of God, and the Multitude of his tender Mercies, within a few Verses some dreadful Curse against Men is propos’d to our lips; That God would add Iniquity unto their Iniquity, not let ‘em come into his Righteousness, but blot ‘em out of the Book of the Living, Psal. 69, 16, 27, 28, which is so contrary to the New Commandment, of Loving our Enemies. Some Sentences of the Psalmist that are expressive of the Temper of our own Hearts and the Circumstances of our Lives may compose our Spirits to Seriousness, and allure us to a sweet Retirement within our selves; but we meet with a following line which so peculiarly belongs to one Action or Hour of the Life of David or Asaph, that breaks off our Song in the midst; our Consciences are affrighted lest we should speak a Falshood unto God: Thus the Powers of our Souls are shock’d on a sudden, and our Spirits ruffled before we have time to reflect that this may be sung only as a History of ancient Saints: and perhaps in some Instances that Salvo is hardly Sufficient neither.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

We have therefore in the work of Watts a new departure. His activity brought about the change from psalmody to hymnody in the English Church. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

It is worth considering what Benson has to say about Watts’s achievement in the establishment of the evangelical hymn in England: [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

“In all fairness it should bear the name of Watts. In the light of its immediate surroundings it was so glaringly original. But, as we discuss it, I think we shall come to feel more and more that to a larger view it was hardly more than a dislodgment of the Calvinistic settlement in favor of a reaffirmation of Luther’s, which was the original evangelical settlement of hymnody. . . . [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

“It was not part of Watts’s proposal to give up either the form or substance of metrical psalmody. He would carry it on not as inspired Scripture but as a department of Christian song, whose sense and materials were taken from the Bible. And when to this evangelized and modernized Psalter was added a body of hymns of purely human composure, representing our appropriation of the Gospel through Christian experience, we get the full terms of Watts’s settlement of the relation of Christian song to the Bible.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

To which we add the following tribute: “It has been the fashion with some to disparage Watts, as if he had never risen above the level of his Hymns for Little Children. No doubt his taste is often faulty and his style very unequal, but, looking to the good and disregarding the large quantity of inferior matter, it is probable that more hymns which approach to a very high standard of excellence and are at the same time suitable for congregational use may be found in his works than in those of any other English writer.” (Encyclopedia Brit.)

16, 32, 60, 66, 138, 160, 176, 180, 192, 193, 282, 289, 299, 305, 308, 416, 441, 469, 489, 500, 566

 

Webb, Benjamin, 1820-85

Benjamin Webb was born 1820, in London. He was educated in St. Paul’s School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained to the ministry in 1843, and held various positions until 1862, when he became vicar of St. Andrews, Wells Street, London. In 1881 he became connected with St. Paul’s Cathedral. Rev. B. Webb wrote and edited several theological publications and assisted in the preparation of two collections of hymns, namely, Hymnal Noted, 1851-1854, and The Hymnary, 1872. He has furnished a number of translations, and has composed a few original hymns. Among the latter is “Praise the Rock of our salvation,” intended for use at the dedication of churches. Benjamin Webb died 1885, in London. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WEBB, Benjamin (1820-1885), was born in London in 1820. He studied at St. Paul’s School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received his B. A in 1842 and his M. A. in 1845. After being ordained he served first as assistant curate of Kemeston, Gloucestershire, 1843-1844; then of Christ Church, St. Pancras, 1847 to 1849; and of Brasted, Kent, 1849-1851. In 1862 Webb became Vicar of St. Andrew’s, London, and in 1881 Prebendary of Portpool in St. Paul’s Cathedral. His editorial work extended to all fields of church work, but he is noted in hymnology chiefly for his work on the Hymnal Noted and the Hymnary, 1872. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 281, 389

 

Wegelin, Josua, 1604-40

WEGELIN (Wegelein), Josua (1604-1640), was born in Augsburg on January 11, 1604, the son of Johann Wegelin, superintendent of the Evangelical college of Augsburg. He attended the University of Tübingen and received his M. A. in 1626. He was for a short time pastor at Budweiler, and in 1627 he was appointed fourth diaconus of the Franciscan church at Augsburg. In 1629 he was compelled to leave Augsburg with thirteen other Evangelical pastors by the Edict of Restitution enacted by Emperor Ferdinand III. This was instigated by the Benedictine monks, who, after they had settled in Rinteln in 1630, claimed to be the rightful professors and demanded the restoration of the old church lands, and especially the property formerly belonging to the nunnery at Rinteln, but which had been devoted to the payment of the stipends of the Lutheran professors. In 1632 he was recalled as archdiaconus of the Franciscan Church, when Gustavus Adolphus took over the city. He was appointed preacher at the Hospital Church of the Holy Ghost in 1633. In 1635 he was again forced to flee, finding refuge in Pressburg, Hungary, where he held office as pastor, Senior, Inspector, and later Doctor of Theology. He died there on September 14, 1640. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

392

 

Weingärtner, Sigismund, 17th century

WEINGÄRTNER, Sigismund (17th century). In the Geistliche Psalmen, a hymnal containing 766 psalms, published at Nürnberg in 1607, there appeared two hymns under the name of Sigismund Weingärtner. He is thought to have been a preacher in Heilbronn on the Neckar, but this is questionable. Research seems to show that there never was a preacher by this name at Hetibronn on the Neckar. Some have therefore suggested that he may have lived in Basel, others that he must have lived in or near the cloister of Heilbronn in Franconia. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

467

 

Weisse, Michael, c. 1480-1534

Michael Weisse was born in Neisse in Silesia about 1480. He took priests’ orders and was for a time a monk at Breslau. Later he embraced the Evangelical faith and joined the Bohemian Breth­ren. He founded a congregation at Landskron in Bohemia, another at Fulnek in Moravia. In 1531 he published a hymn book containing 155 hymns, all apparently either his own translations from the Czech language or originals by himself. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WEISSE (Weiss, Wiss, Wegs, Weys, Weyss), Michael (c. 1480-1534), was born in Neisse, Silesia. He took priest’s orders and was for some time a monk at Breslau. Some of the early writings of Luther came into his hands while he was at the cloister, and, having read them, he abandoned the monastery with two other monks and sought refuge among the Bohemian Brethren. Weisse was admitted to the Brethren’s House at Leutomische, Bohemia. He became a German preacher to the Bohemian Brethren at Landskron, Bohemia, and Fulness, Moravia. In 1522 along with John Roh he was sent to Luther to explain to him the religious views of the Bohemian Brethren. The Bohemian Brethren recognized Weisse’s talents and entrusted him with the editing of the first German hymnal of the Bohemian Brethren, which appeared in 1531 under the title Ein New Gesengbuchlen. There are 155 hymns embodied in the hymnal, and according to the preface which the editor wrote, all of them seem to have been either composed or translated from Latin or Bohemian by Weisse himself. He died at Landskron in 1534. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

344, 476

141

 

Weissel, Georg, 1590-1635

Georg Weissel, son of Johann Weissel, judge and mayor of Domnau, near Königsberg, was born in Domnau 1590. From 1608 to 1611 he studied at the university at Königsberg and later at Wittenberg, Leipzig, Jena, Strassburg, Basel, and Marburg. In 1614 he became rector of a school in Friedland, near his native city, and returned three years later to Königsberg to resume his theological studies. In 1623 he became pastor of the church in Königsberg, and served there until his death, in 1635. Weissel has written about twenty hymns. These are chiefly designated for the festivals of the church year. His hymns rank high and three of them have been translated into English. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WEISSEL, Georg (1590-1635), was born at Domnau, near Königsberg, Prussia, the son of Johann Weissel, judge and mayor of the town. He studied at the University of Königsberg and then for short periods at Wittenberg, Leipzig, Jena, Strassburg, Basel, and Marburg. In 1614 he was appointed rector of the school at Friedland but resigned after three years to resume his studies of theology at Königsberg. Finally, in 1623, he became pastor of the newly erected Altrossgart Church at Königsberg where he remained until his death, August 1, 1635. At an early age already Georg Weissel developed a remarkable poetic talent and had the gift of inspiring others, Simon Dach particularly. He wrote about twenty hymns in all, the majority of which are for the greater festivals of the church-year. Weissel’s hymns are all in good style, of moderate length, and varied in meter. The earliest seem to have been written for use at the consecration of the Altrossgart Church on the Second Sunday in Advent, 1623. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

91, 92, 207

 

Weißnitzer, W., c. 1615-97

 

246

 

Wesley, Charles, 1707-88

CHARLES WESLEY is mentioned in many hymnals as the author of this hymn, which is used extensively throughout the English speaking world. But it is not found in Wesley’s collection of 1779. The meter is also different from that of Wesley’s hymns. The hymn is found in a collection edited by Rev. Spencer Madan, in his 3rd edition, 1763. It appears there with the melody “God save the king” (America). George Whitefield had taken the hymn into a collection published by him at an earlier date. In that issue the hymn is called an Hymn to the Trinity. During the Revolutionary War, while the English yet controlled Long Island, the English troops one Sunday morning marched into a church and ordered the congregation to sing “God save the king.” The congregation sang the melody of the Old Royal hymn, but the text with the following words:

Come, Thou almighty King, Help us Thy name to sing, Help us to praise; Father all glorious, O’er all victorious, Come and reign over us, Ancient of days. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WESLEY, Charles (1707-1788), the youngest son and the eighteenth of the nineteen children of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, was born at the Epworth Rectory, December 18, 1707. The parents served as teachers, and Charles studied at least six hours daily. Bible reading and prayer were a part of the daily exercises. The mother exerted a tremendous spiritual influence on the children. In 1716 Charles Wesley went to Westminster School, where his home and board were provided by his elder brother Samuel, who was an usher at the school. In 1721 Charles was elected King’s Scholar and as such received his board and education free. While he was at Westminster Charles declined an offer made to him through his father by a wealthy Irishman who offered to adopt him and make him his heir. In 1726 he was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford. His brother John, three years his senior, also attended Oxford at this time. At this time England was full of freethinkers, many of whom even denied all faith in God and immortality. This spirit influenced Oxford University especially. To counteract this influence Charles Wesley and some of his friends organized a distinctly Christian society. Members tried to lead good Christian lives, to study the Bible diligently, to visit the sick and the prisoners, and to distribute Bibles and prayers-books. Because of this regular and methodical mode of life, their devotional exercises and intense Christian activity, members were called “Methodists” and their organization the “Holy Club.” The Wesley brothers were the leading members, and George Whitefield was a prominent one. From this group the new movement in the Church of England took its beginning. Charles Wesley took his degree in 1729 and became a college tutor. In 1735 he went with his brother John to Georgia as secretary to General Oglethorpe, having before he set out received deacons and priests orders on two successive Sundays. His stay in Georgia was short, and he returned to England in 1736. At this time Charles Wesley espoused the doctrines of the Rev. William Law and had rested in a legal righteousness. But Peter Böhler had selected him as his English teacher, and he and Wesley’s simple host at London, Mr. Bray, a brazier, brought him to renounce his self-righteousness. In the same year Wesley came under the influence of Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians. On Whitsunday, 1737, Charles Wesley found rest to his soul and in the following year became curate to his friend Mr. Stonehouse, Vicar of Islington. However, the church wardens were greatly opposed to Wesley; so the Vicar had to proclaim that he “should preach in his church no more.” Wesley’s work now was identified with that of his brother, and he became an indefatigable itinerant and field preacher. On one of his preaching tours he met Miss Sarah Gwynne, whom he married in 1749. Mrs. Wesley accompanied her husband on his evangelistic journeys, which ceased in 1756, after which time Charles Wesley devoted himself to the care of the Societies in London and Bristol, making the latter place his headquarters until 1771. After 1771 Wesley went to London, where, as in his youth, he dedicated himself to the spiritual care of prisoners in Newgate. Wesley was troubled about the relations of Methodism to the Church of England and strongly and outspokenly disapproved of his brother John’s “ordinations” but did not separate from him. Charles Wesley died on March 29, 1788, and was buried in Marylebone Churchyard. He had not consented to be interred in the burial-ground of the City Road Chapel, where John had prepared a grave for himself. Eight clergymen of the Church of England bore his pall. Charles Wesley had a large family, but only four survived him. Three sons distinguished themselves in the musical world, and one daughter inherited her father’s genius. His widow and orphans were treated most kindly by John Wesley. Charles Wesley, “The Prince of Hymn-writers,” “The Sweet Bard of Methodism,” “The Father of Sacred Song,” is considered the great hymnwriter of all ages, taking quantity and quality into consideration. He wrote 6500 hymns, and it is marvelous how many rise to the highest degree of excellence. His feelings on every occasion of importance, whether public or private, found their best expression in a hymn. Charles Wesley also wrote hymns for little children, a branch of sacred poetry in which the mantle of Dr. Watts seems to have fallen upon him. There is much dispute as to whether Wesley or Watts is greater. One critic says this, “While Watts dwells on the awful majesty and glory of God in sublime phrases, Wesley touches the very hem of Christ’s garment in loving adoration and praise.” [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

3, 62, 87, 98, 125, 209, 307, 352, 376, 388, 407, 506, 520

 

Wesley, John, 1703-91

WESLEY, John (1703-1791), born June 28, 1703, at Epworth, was the founder of Methodism and the greatest religious force of the eighteenth century in England. He was educated at the Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford (B. A. 1724), became a Fellow of Lincoln College in 1726, was ordained in 1725, and in 1735 went with his brother Charles as a missionary to Georgia, where he published Collection of Psalms and Hymns, Charlestown, 1737, the first English hymn-book as distinguished from psalm-books to be printed in America. On his return to England he started the great evangelistic work which resulted in the Methodist Church. He translated a number of hymns, chiefly from the German, and is probably the author of some of the hymns accredited to Charles Wesley, as the two agreed among themselves not to distinguish their hymns. His translations are among the finest and most devotional in English hymnody and express deep spirituality of thought and emotion. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 372, 432, 499

 

Wesley, Samuel Sebastian, 1810-76

It was composed by S. S. Wesley (1810-1876), grandson of Charles Wesley. He was at his time one of the leading church musicians in England. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WESLEY, Samuel Sebastian (1810-1876), was born in London on August 14, 1810. He was the grandson of Charles Wesley, the great Methodist hymn-writer, and the son of Samuel Wesley, the famous composer of church music. A child of the Chapel Royal, he became an organist at the age of ten and served the cathedrals at Hereford, Exeter, Winchester, and Gloucester. Working at a time when church music was at its lowest ebb in England, he suffered considerably from lack of interest and appreciation, but he still managed to exert an uplifting influence on the church music of his day. He was renowned as an organist, is famous for his organ compositions and anthems, and is remembered today chiefly for his ability to combine in his hymn-tunes ease of singing with churchly dignity. His most important publication was The European Psalmist, 1872. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

486

 

Wexels, Wilhelm A., 1797-1866

 

590

 

Wexelsen, Marie, 1832-1911

Marie Wexelsen published three children’s books, among them Ketil, en Julegave for De Smaa (Ketil, a Christmas Gift for Little Ones), where this Christmas carol, I Am So Glad When Christmas Comes, introduced a longer story. At that time she entitled it The Child’s Christmas Carol.

127            I Am So Glad When Christmas Comes

 

Weyse, Christoph Ernst Friedrich, 1774-1842

Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse was born in Altona, March 5, 1774. Already as a young man he became known as a pianist of ability. In 1805 he was appointed organist of Vor Frue Kirke, Copenhagen, where he served until his death, in 1842. Weyse is chiefly known because of his compositions. He was a very highly gifted composer. He wrote several operas and several choral compositions for various plays, romances, cantatas, and preludes and other music for the church. His Koralbog was published in 1839. Among Weyse’s hymn tunes, his melody for Grundtvig’s Dagvise, “Den signede Dag, som vi nu ser,” is not only his best, but it ranks as one of the grandest church melodies that have come to us from the Northern countries. (See also L. H. No. 47.) [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WEYSE, Christoph Ernst Friedrich (1774-1842), was born in Altona, Denmark, on March 5, 1774. He studied piano as a youth and in 1805 became organist of Vor Frue Kirke, Copenhagen, where he served until his death. Weyse wrote several operas, cantatas, preludes, and hymn-tunes, and he is ranked as one of the leading church musicians of the North. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

46, 401, 525

 

Wilde, Jane Francesca, née Elgee, 1826-96

WILDE, Jane Francesca, née Elgee (1826-1896), was born at Wexford, a daughter of Archdeacon Elgee. She married Sir William Wilde, a Dublin oculist, in 1851. She died February 3, 1896, at Chelsea. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 240

 

Williams, Aaron, 1731-76

WILLIAMS, Aaron (1731-1776), was born in London. Little is known of him except that he worked as an engraver, composer, publisher, teacher of music, and as clerk of the Scots’ Church, London Wall. He published The Universal Psalmodist, 1770, Harmonia Coelestis, 1775, Royal Harmony, 1780. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

60

 

Williams, Peter, 1722-96 and William Williams, 1717-91

William Williams was born 1717, in Cefnycoed, Carmarthenshire, Wales. He began the study of medicine, but, being influenced by the forceful sermons of the preacher, Howell Harris, he was converted and commenced training for the ministry. In 1740 he was made deacon in the Episcopal Church, where he served two small congregations. But Williams appeared at the same time as a revival preacher beyond the limits of his own parish, in spite of the warning and admonition of the church authorities. He was therefore denied the final ordination to the ministry in the Church of England. Williams then joined the Calvinistic Methodists, and the entire country of Wales became his field of work. For 45 years he labored as preacher and hymn writer and wielded a powerful influence among his countrymen: His colleagues in the service, who soon recognized his poetic talent, encouraged him to write spiritual songs, and from 1745 to 1747, in Bristol, he published Alleluia in six parts. Another collection, Hosannah, appeared in Bristol, 1759. In this book, 51 of his hymns were published also in the English language. These, together with a later collection, appeared in one volume, 1859, compiled by D. Sedgwick. Williams wrote in all upwards of 700 spiritual songs, published by his son, John Williams, 1811.—The great Welsh evangelist and hymn-poet died 1791 at Pantycelyn, near Llandovery. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WILLIAMS, Peter (1722-1796), was born January 7, 1722, in Carmarthenehire. He was educated at Carmathen College. For a time Williams was curate of Eglwyscymmin, but in 1749 he joined the Calvinistic Methodists and subsequently built a chapel for himself at Carmarthen. He died August 8, 1796. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 262

 

Williams, Ralph Vaughan. See Vaughan Williams, Ralph.

 

Williams, Robert, c. 1781-1821

WILLIAMS, Robert (c.1781-1821), was born at Mynydd Ithel, Llanfechell, Anglesey, an island northwest of Wales. Williams was blind from his birth and made his living by weaving baskets. He seems to have been well thought of as a vocalist, and his musical memory drew him quite a little attention. It is said that he could write a tune down without a single mistake after hearing it only once. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

345

 

Williams, Thomas John, 1869-1944

72

 

Williams, William, 1717-91

WILLIAMS, William (1717-1791), was born at Cefn-y-Coed in the parish of Llanfair-y-bryn, near Llandovery. He was ordained deacon of the Established Church in 1740 by Dr. Claget, Bishop of St. Davids, and for three years served the curacies of Llanwrtyd and Llanddewi-Abergwesyn. He abounded in pulpit service and extended his labors all over the country. He was summoned before his diocesan and tried for these irregularities almost a score of times. For this reason, too, he was denied ordination to the priesthood. At first he identified himself with the Wesley revival. Later he forsook the Wesleys and became a Calvinistic Methodist, having adopted Wales as his parish. As an itinerant preacher he associated with the successful preacher Daniel Rowlands. For thirty-five years he preached once a month at Llanllian and Caio and Llansawel, besides the preaching journeys he took in North and South Wales. During a ministry of forty-five years he seldom traveled less than forty miles a week or 2,000 miles a year. He published Alleluiah in 1744; Hosannah to the Son of David or Hymns of Praise to God, 1759; Gloria in Exrcelsis or Hymns of Praise to God and the Lamb, 1772. He has been called the Sweet Singer of Wales and the Watts of Wales. He did for Wales what Wesley and Watts did for England or what Luther did for Germany. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

262

 

Winkworth, Catherine, 1827-78

Catherine Winkworth was born in London, September 13, 1829. Her early years were spent in Manchester. Later the family moved to Clifton, near Bristol. Miss Winkworth was an active, noble, and pious woman, who came to exert a most beneficial influence in wide circles. She was the leading member of the Clifton Society for the Advancement of Higher Education among Women, and similar societies. She died suddenly of heart failure in July, 1878. Her hymnological works consist of the following: Lyra Germanica, first series, 1855; second series, 1858; The Chorale Book for England (translations of German hymns, with music), 1863; Christian Singers of Germany, biographical, 1869. Miss Winkworth is the most able and most popular among the English translators of German hymns. Others have also reached eminent heights in certain respects. But as to faithfulness toward the original, both in respect of contents and meter, clearness of thought and euphony of language, no one has surpassed her. To this may be added that Miss Winkworth has rendered more translations from the German than any other author, and well nigh all of them are of very high rank. She has done more than any other translator to make German hymns known and appreciated in English-speaking countries. Our Lutheran Hymnary has 53 of her translations. [Correction & Addition from Volume 3: Of translation by Miss Winkworth there are 67 in The Lutheran Hymnary. Dr. Martineau says that here religious life afforded “a happy example of the piety which the Church of England discipline may implant…” Dr. Percival writes: “Miss W. was a person of remarkable social and intellectual gifts… but what specially distinguished her was her combination of rare ability and great knowledge with a certain tender and sympathetic refinement which constitutes the special charm of the true womanly character.”] [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WINKWORTH, Catherine (1829-1878), the daughter of Henry Winkworth of Alderley Edge, Cheshire, was born in London on September 13, 1829. Her early life was spent in the neighborhood of Manchester. She subsequently moved with her family to Clifton, near Bristol. She died suddenly of heart disease at Monnetier in Savoy. Her sister Susannah started to write a memorial of her, but she died before she finished it. It was completed by their niece, who added some long letters from Susannah and called her book Memorials of Two Sisters. It was edited by Margaret T. Shaen. Miss Winkworth published translations from the German of the Life of Pastor Fliedner (the founder of the Sisterhood of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth), 1861, and of the Life of Amelia Sieveking (the founder of the Female Society for the Care of the Sick and Poor in Hamburg, Germany, 1863). Her hymnological works included Lyra Germanica, First Series, 1855, which contained translations of 103 hymns selected from the Chevalier Bunsen’s Gesang und Gebetbuch, 1833; Lyra Germanica, Second Series, 1858, which contained 123 hymns selected for their warmth of feeling and depth of Christian experience, rather than as specimens of a particular master or school; The Chorale Book for England, 1863, which contained some of the fine old German chorales to which the hymns are sung in Germany by vast congregations; and the Christian Singers of Germany, 1869, a charming biographical work. She also published Palm Leaves: Sacred Poems Selected and Translated from the German of Karl Gerok. Catherine Winkworth is the foremost in rank and popularity of modern translators from German into English. Her translations are the most widely used of any from that language. They have had more to do with the modern revival of the English use of German hymns than the versions of any other writer. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 1, 23, 27, 29, 30, 35, 37, 63, 65, 77, 79, 86, 91, 92, 94, 102, 105, 115, 122, 123, 124, 132, 134, 141, 149, 151, 152, 163, 165, 190, 198, 201, 205, 213, 238, 242, 244, 253, 255, 257, 264, 276, 291, 292, 326, 328, 332, 333, 344, 361, 375, 383, 395, 400, 406, 409, 450, 452, 454, 456, 465, 467, 468, 470, 472, 473, 476, 480, 481, 524, 530, 532, 535, 541, 550, 573, 589

 

Wipo of Burgundy, d. 1048

 

345

 

Woodford, James Russell, 1820-85

James Russell Woodford was born April 30, 1820, in Henley-on-Thames. He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received the degree of B. A. in 1842. The following year he was ordained to the ministry and served first as teacher and pastor at Bristol. In 1855 he became rector of Kempsford, Gloucestershire, and served in that office till 1868, when he removed to Leeds. Five years later he was elected bishop of Ely. He died here in 1885. Bishop Woodford published Hymns arranged for the Sundays and Holy Days of the Church of England (editions, 1852 and 1855), and together with H. W. Beadon and Greville Phillimore he edited The Parish Hymn Book, which was printed in 1863. This was followed by an enlarged edition in 1875. In these books were included his original hymns and also his various translations from the Latin. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WOODFORD, James Russell (1820-1885), was born April 30, 1820, at Henley-on-Thames and was educated at Merchant Taylors School and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself as a scholar. In 1843 he was ordained and became Second Master in Bishop’s College, Bristol, and Curate of St. John the Baptist’s Church. In 1845 Woodford became incumbent of St. Savior’s Church, Coalpit Heath; in 1848 incumbent of St. Mark’s, Bristol; in 1855 vicar of Kempsford Gloucestershire. In 1868 Woodford was preferred by the Crown to the important vicarage of Leeds on Dr. Atlay’s appointment as Bishop of Hereford. Several times Woodford was Select Preacher at Cambridge and also Honorary Chaplain to the Queen. In 1873 he was consecrated the Bishop of Ely in Westminster Abbey. He died October 24, 1885. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

185

 

Wordsworth, Christopher, 1807-85

Christopher Wordsworth was born 1807, at Lambeth, England, where his father was a rector. He was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge. He distinguished himself as a student and won many prizes for scholarship. He became “Fellow of Trinity” and delivered lectures in his college. In 1836, when 29 years old, he became “public orator” at the university. In the same year he became “head master of the Harrow School,” where he began a sweeping moral reform. Sir Robert Peel appointed him canon of Westminster Abbey in 1844. In 1848 he was appointed lecturer at Cambridge University. He then accepted a call to become preacher in a small place, and here he remained until 1869, when he was ordained bishop of Lincoln. He remained in this office for 15 years, until shortly before his death, in 1885.

Bishop Wordsworth was a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth. He published his hymns under the title The Holy Year, or Hymns for Sundays and Holidays, and other Occasions, Rivingtons, London, 1862. The first edition contains 117 original hymns and an supplement of 82 hymns from other sources. In the third edition, 1863, the appendix is omitted, and his own hymns increased in number to 127. He did not select such passages as lend themselves especially to poetic treatment, but limited himself to the regular Sunday and Holiday texts. He maintained that the most important task for a composer of hymns is to emphasize constantly the points of true doctrine, and therefore he should resort to the Holy Scriptures, the Church Fathers, and the early church hymns as sources of inspiration. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

WORDSWORTH, Christopher (1807-1885), was the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth, an English Church rector at Lambeth, England, where the young Wordsworth was born on October 30, 1807. He was educated at Winchester, where he distinguished himself both as a scholar and as an athlete. In 1826 Wordsworth matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his father had since become Master. Here he carried off an unprecedented number of college and university prizes. When he graduated in 1830, he was elected a Fellow of Trinity. In 1836 he was chosen Public Orator for the University and also elected Head Master of Harrow School, where he instituted a sweeping moral reform. At this time Wordsworth received his D. D. by royal mandate from the University of Cambridge. In 1838 he married Susan Hatley Freere. Sir Robert Peel appointed him to the Canonry at Westminster in 1844, and during the year 1848 to 49 he was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge. Shortly after, Wordsworth took the small chapter-living of Stanford-in-the-Vale cum Goosey, in Berkshire, where he was an exemplary parish priest for nineteen years. In 1869 he was elevated to the bishopric of Lincoln, which position he held for fifteen years, resigning only a few months before his death on March 20, 1885. Christopher Wordsworth was the nephew and good friend of the poet laureate William Wordsworth, whom he constantly visited at Rydal and with whom he kept up a regular and lengthy correspondence. He was a voluminous writer. Of his many works, however, the only one which claims notice from the hymnologist’s paint of view is The Holy Year, which contains hymns, not only for every season of the Church’s year, but also for every phase of that season, as indicated in the Book of Common Prayer. Wordsworth held it to be the first duty of a hymn-writer to teach sound doctrine, and thus to save souls. He thought that the materials for English Church hymns should be sought first in the Holy Scriptures, secondly in the writings of Christian antiquity, and finally in the poetry of the Ancient Church. Wordsworth felt himself bound to treat impartially every branch of every subject brought before the people in the Church’s services, whether of a poetical nature or not. The natural result is that his hymns are of very unequal merit; while some of them are of a high order of excellence, others are prosaic. Of his 127 hymns about 50 are still in common use. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

172, 485, 505, 508

 

Worship Supplement, 1969

setting: 310

 

Wortman, Denis, 1835-1922

WORTMAN, Denis (1835-1922), was born in Hopewell, New York, April 30, 1835. He received his A.B. at Amherst in 1857. In 1860 he attended the theological seminary of the Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From 1860 to 1871 he served as pastor of three churches, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Schenectady, consecutively. For five years, from 1871 to 1876, he withdrew from the active work of the ministry on account of ill health. He then served churches from 1880 to 1902 in Fort Plain, New York; Saugerties, New York. Thereafter he devoted his time to raising contributions for ministerial relief in the Reformed Church of America. Wortman’s prominence in the affairs of the Reformed Church may be estimated by the positions of trust which he attained. In 1867 he was delegate to the conference of the Evangelical Alliance at Amsterdam. From 1882 to 1904 he was trustee of Union College and twice held the high offices of Vice-President and President of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

501

 

Young, John Freeman, 1820-85

 

tr. 140

 

Zeisler, G. A., 1936

tr. 430

 

Zich, August F., 1868-1939

ZICH, August F. (1868-1939), son of Christian and Ernestine Zich, was born June 12, 1868, near Stargard, Pomerania, Germany. When still a young boy he emigrated to America with his parents. The family settled on a farm near Waterloo, Wisconsin. He was educated at Northwestern College, Watertown, Wisconsin, and at the Theological Seminary, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the years of his ministry he served the Lutheran congregations at Sutton, Minnesota, from 1897 to 1911 and at Green Bay, Wisconsin, from 1911 to 1931. In 1931 he was called to a professorship at the Theological Seminary at Thiensville, Wisconsin, which institution he served until June 25, 1939, when sudden death ended his labors. Professor Zich served as President of the old Minnesota Synod and as President of the North Wisconsin District of the Joint Synod of Wisconsin. He was associate editor of the Northwestern Lutheran for 11 years. On September 6, 1893, he was united in marriage with Caroline Lau. He was a member of the Intersynodical Committee on Hymnology and Liturgies which prepared The Lutheran Hymnal. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

tr. 528

 

Zinck, Hartnack Otto Konrad, 1746-1833, Koralbog

Hartnack Otto Konrad Zinck, born 1746, died 1832, was director of music at the royal theatre in Copenhagen and organist at Vor Frelsers Kirke in the same city. He labored zealously for the cause of congregational singing. In 1801 he published his Koralbog, containing melodies for Den Evangelisk-Kristelige Psalmebog. [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

ZINCK, Hartnack Otto Konrad (1746-1833), was born July 2, 1746, in Husum. He was first cantor in Hamburg and in 1787 became singing-master at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen. During the years 1780-1801 he served also as organist in Our Savior’s Church at Christianshavn, and in the latter year he published Koral-Melodier for the Evangelisk-Christelege Psalme-Bog. He died February 15, 1833. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

83, 178

 

Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von, 1700-60

Nicolaus Ludwig, Count v. Zinzendorf, was born in Dresden, May 26, 1700. His father, Georg Ludwig, was a member of the privy council of Saxony. Ph. J. Spener was his god-father. His father died shortly after the birth of Nicolaus Ludwig. His mother, Charlotte Justine (b. von Gersdorf) was married again four years later, and the boy found a home with his grandmother, the pious Henriette Catherine von Gersdorf, who gave him a Christian training. Even in his early boyhood years the fundamental truth became deeply rooted in his consciousness, that Christ is our Brother, and that He died for us. He wrote letters to the Savior and placed them out in the street, feeling assured that He would find them on passing the house. When he was six years old he arranged chairs in his room as pews and preached to them concerning the love of Christ. On one such occasion he was surprised by a band of Swedish soldiers who came to plunder, but who were deeply moved by the words of the little child. In 1710 he entered A. H. Francke’s Paedagogium in Halle, where he remained until his sixteenth year. In this institution he organized the “Order of the Mustard Seed,” 1715, taking the name from Matt. 13:31. According to one of the rules of the society, the members were to work for the conversion of Jews and heathen nations. In 1716 Zinzendorf began the study of jurisprudence at the University of Wittenberg. He remained there for three years, and during his spare time he also studied theology. In 1719 he traveled abroad, and upon his return was appointed government councillor at Dresden. By special permission from Superintendent V. Löscher he conducted devotional meetings in his home on Sundays and holidays. Shortly afterwards he realized his fondest desire, to gather a separate congregation for the purpose of developing a living and practical Christianity. From his grandmother he bought Berthelsdorf in Lausitz and married the young Countess Erdmuth Dorothea (Reuse). When Zinzendorf heard of the savage persecutions of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, and how cruelly they were driven from their homes, his efforts were bent in a new direction. He opened his house to many of these fugitives and permitted them to establish new homes upon the lands in his possession. The leader among these first colonists was the carpenter Christian David. This was in the year 1722. Large numbers followed during the next few years, among them also many Lutherans and members of the Reformed Churches, and in the spring of 1727 they formed a congregation of Brethren, with Zinzendorf as teacher and leader. They called the place Herrnhut. Controversies broke out among the Brethren, but Zinzendorf succeeded in uniting them all under a church constitution similar to that of the Moravian Brethren. The fact that some entertained different opinions concerning certain minor points of Christian doctrine did not prevent them from endeavoring to keep “the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3), seeing that they were all of one mind on the chief point that of faith in the atoning death of Christ.

The congregation and its organizer and leader were exposed to many attacks. The Saxon government repeatedly sent commissioners to investigate the conditions at Herrnhut, presumably upon the request of the emperor, who disliked the many extensive emigrations from his domain; and though the investigations always resulted favorably for the colony of Herrnhut, Zinzendorf was exiled for a period of ten years. During this time he made extensive journeys through many European countries, also to England, where he came in touch with the Wesley brothers. Being fired with missionary zeal, he visited the West Indies in 1738 and came to Pennsylvania in the fall of 1741, remaining there till the spring of 1743. He continued his travels long after the period of exile was over, and did not return to Saxony until 1755. In the spring of 1760 he became ill and died on the 9th of May of the same year. The following inscription was placed upon his tombstone: “He was appointed to bear fruit, everlasting fruit.” Though his testimony was not free from errors and certain irregularities, from the Lutheran viewpoint, obtained in his congregation, he became instrumental in saving many souls, and his congregation held on high the Word of the Cross offering spiritual life to sin-sick souls, during the time when the preachers of the Cross of Christ were in most places silenced.

Zinzendorf was very prolific as a hymn writer, having written over 2,000 hymns. The greater number of these, however, are of inferior worth, and are not suited for church use; but a few of them have gained favor and have been translated into many languages. They all cluster about the common idea:

Jesus, crucified for me,

Is my life, my hope’s foundation,

And my glory and salvation.

(Skaar and others.) [Dahle, Library of Christian Hymns]

ZINZENDORF, Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von (1700-1760), was born at Dresden. May 26, 1700. He was educated at Halle and Wittenberg and became Hof- and Justizrat at the Saxon court in Dresden in 1721. He settled the refugee Moravians on his estates of Berthelsdorf, the colony being called Herrnhut in 1722. Expelled from Saxony on charges of spreading false doctrine, he could not return for ten years. He spent this time in preaching and traveling from St. Petersburg to the West Indies. He planted Moravian missions in America and founded settlements of the Brethren in Germany, Holland, England, and Scotland. His later years were spent in Herrnhut. He had been consecrated bishop at Berlin in 1737. His whole fortune was spent in behalf of his Church, and he died a poor man. He wrote over 2,000 hymns, some of them good, most of little merit, and some excessive in their emotionalism, bordering on irreverence. He died at Herrnhut in 1760. [Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal]

 

432, 587

 

Zwey Bücher…Tabulatur, Strassburg, 1577

406